A woman's deposition came in handy for proving the crime of her husband who has been slapped with a fine of Rs 3.5 lakh for giving blows on her stomach and deliberately ramming his car into a tree, resulting in the death of their unborn child.
The court said the 31-year-old man's act "exposes" that he had "clear-cut intention" and knowledge that his actions could have caused death of his wife as well.
Additional Sessions Judge Manoj Jain convicted the man, a resident of Hari Nagar, for the offences of attempt to murder and causing death of the unborn child by the act amounting to culpable homicide.
The court, however, spared him jail term saying it was compelled to take a lenient view as the woman submitted that she does not want any sort of action against her husband.
Initially, a case of rash driving was lodged against the man when his car had collided with a tree in Shalimar Bagh in north west Delhi in the wee hours in April, 2013. His eight months pregnant wife was taken to a hospital and due to the impact of accident, the woman suffered a miscarriage.
The man was also taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries. He told the police that when he was returning home along with his wife in his car, a stray dog came in front of the vehicle and in order to save the animal, his car collided against a tree due to which his wife received injuries.
The court, however, said "Keeping in mind the overall facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the sterling quality of deposition made by the woman, it stands proved that accused had given blows on the belly region of his wife and thereafter deliberately collided his running car against a tree which resulted in death of their unborn child."
"His (man's) act exposes that he had clear-cut intention as well as knowledge that by his actions, he could have caused death of his wife as well. Accused was fully cognizant of the fact his wife was in advanced stage of pregnancy.
"It can be safely assumed that he surely knew that his act could have caused death of his wife as well as of unborn child. He, however, did not bother about her feeble condition and intentionally albeit foolishly caused the accident," it said.
The couple's divorce case is now pending before a court.
The court directed that the fine amount of Rs 3.5 lakh be
given to the woman, if realised, and the man would have to undergo six months jail on his failure to deposit the money.
The court took into account that as per the settlement between the couple before a family court, the man agreed to pay Rs 31 lakh to his wife as final settlement regarding stridhan and maintenance out of which he has already paid Rs 12 lakh.
It also said that the woman's testimony made it clear that it was not a case of simple unintended accident but the incident was a "deliberate and conscious act" of the man.
"Of course, his own life was also on stake. Manner in which the accident had taken place indicates that there was every chance of his too getting badly injured. He should rather thank his stars as he escaped unhurt, virtually," it said.
