The Delhi High Court upheld the life imprisonment awarded by a trial court to a woman and her lover for killing her husband, saying they deserve "no sympathy".
Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Indermeet Kaur upheld the sentence of Shikha and Ashad for murdering Rajkumar, saying the prosecution successfully established that the illicit relationship between the accused was the motive behind killing the husband. The court also relied on the testimony of an eye-witness in the case.
"The common intention of the two accused to eliminate Rajkumar has been spelt ot clearly and unequivocally by the prosecution. The eye witness account of the incident as witnessed by Govind (eye witness) can not be faulted with. The dead body was recovered at the instance of Shiksha at their home," the court said in a recent judgement.
The bench also said: "The motive for the crime i.e. the illicit relationship between the accused has been spelt out in the version of the witness. After committing the heinous offence, the accused made all efforts to destroy the evidence."
The duo had moved the high court challenging the life imprisonment given to them by a trial court in 2010.
On July 7, 2005, the accused killed Rajkumar and kept his body in a bag on the ground floor of the house in Amar colony. Shiksha's son who had witness the murder, told his grandfather Jaipal in Muzaffarnagar two days later (July 9, 2005) and the latter lodged an FIR with police.
Jaipal had informed the police that Shiksha was living in the village along with the family, wherein she developed intimacy with Ashad who had his fields nearby. On learning this, Shiksha was sent to Delhi by the family to live with her husband.
Refusing to give any leniency to the accused, the bench said: "The accused do not deserve any sympathy. Prosecution has been able to establish its case to the hilt. Both the appeals are dismissed."
