Additional Sessions Judge Nisha Saxena held the accused guilty of committing murder, but said death penalty cannot be given to him as it was not a rarest of rare case.
"Every murder is a heinous crime. Apart from personal implications, it is also a crime against the society but in every case of murder death penalty is not to be awarded.
"Under the present legal position, imprisonment for life is the normal rule for punishing crime of murder and sentence of death is to be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases," the court said.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place in February 2008 when accused Shiv Lal was quarrelling with his mother on some issue and his brother's wife Mamta intervened into the argument and took the side of her mother-in-law.
The accused, a resident of Karawal Nagar in North East Delhi, did not like Mamta speaking against him and he abused her saying he would now teach her a lesson for opposing him, the police told the court.
It added Shiv Lal picked a kitchen, stabbed the victim and fled the spot.
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The mother of the accused raised an alarm and the neighbours rushed Mamta to a hospital where she was declared brought dead. An FIR was registered against the accused and he was arrested.
The accused had said he had been falsely implicated in the case as the police could not trace the real culprit.