A man, who had stabbed his cousin's wife in 2006 here due to animosity over a land dispute between the two families, has been awarded life term by a Delhi court, which relied on the victim's "dying declaration" to husband.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on 34-year-old Ram Ashish, a permanent resident of Munger in Bihar, after holding him guilty of the offence punishable under section 302 (murder) of the IPC.
Additional Sessions Judge Ashutosh Kumar convicted Ashish while relying on the dying declaration of victim Renu to her husband who had found her with stab injuries at her residence on August 25, 2006.
Besides the motive and dying declaration, the court said the "circumstantial evidence also points towards one fact that the accused only is guilty" of causing death of the woman by stabbing her with a sharp edged weapon.
Renu's husband had in his testimony said that due to partition of land in his native village, there was a verbal dual between his family and that of Ashish and the accused had also threatened her wife.
He told the court that Ashish used to reside in the city in front of his house. On the morning of August 25, 2006, when he had gone to fetch water, he heard cries of his wife and when he ran towards his home, he saw that Ashish was holding a knife in his hand and he quickly ran away.
Renu was lying in a pool of blood and when he asked her, she said that Ashish had stabbed her, her husband said, adding that he rushed her to the nearby hospital but she succumbed to the injuries.
The police said that on the basis of his statement, an FIR was lodged and Ashish was arrested on November 6, 2006.
During the trial, Ashish claimed he was falsely implicated in the case and Renu's husband had murdered his wife and was shifting the blame on him.
The court, however, rejected his contentions and convicted him saying, "had the said witness (Renu's husband) being planted or false, he could have easily falsely deposed that he had seen the accused murdering his wife, but the said witness has merely deposed that his wife had stated that the said injury was caused by the accused.
"There is no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the said witness on the said point. Thus, the dying declaration appears credit worthy and the same incriminates the accused," the court said.
