New Delhi: A man, who surrendered himself
before police after killing his wife but later took up the
alibi of insanity, has been sentenced to life term by a Delhi
court.
"This court holds that the accused did commit murder of
his wife," Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar said.
"The conduct of the accused and other materials on
record do not support the plea of mental unsoundness required
for the purposes of general defence under Section 84 IPC," he
added.
The court rejected accused Pappu`s defence that he was
suffering from epileptic insanity and cannot be held liable
for any offence under the Indian Penal Code, as nothing is an
offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing
it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing
the nature of his act.
Rejecting the accused alibi of mental insanity and
epileptic fit, the court quoted various apex court rulings to
say that insanity or unsoundness of mind has to be shown at
the time of the commission of offence.
It said though Pappu is shown to have got fits even on
the day of the incident, "there is nothing in the statement of
this witness that at the time of commission of the present
occurrence, the accused suffered from any such fits."
The case dates back to June 9, 2008, when West Delhi
resident Narender Kumar alias Pappu surrendered himself at
Patel Nagar police station in blood-stained clothes after
killing his wife.
Prosecution witnesses told the court they had seen Pappu
dragging his wife Sheela by hair out of the house to the
street and leaving her there, while also yelling that he had
finished his wife and was going to the police to surrender and
that his son should be taken care of by neighbours.
Pappu`s nine-year-old son Tannu deposed that on the
fateful day his mother Sheela came back home from work and
phoned her brother which infuriated his father, who flared up
and smashed the phone.
Tannu added he rushed to call his grandmother who lived
nearby, but when he returned, he saw his mother lying in the
street in a pool of blood and his father proclaiming that he
was going to jail. Pappu`s brothers too deposed against him.
The police personnel at Patel Nagar police station also
said that Pappu had come there in blood-stained clothes and
stated to have murdered his wife.
PTI
