Ghaziabad: A sessions court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for stabbing his wife in the mouth, ripping her tongue apart, and then fatally attacking her with a knife in front of their two sons after a domestic dispute in 2021. The court held that while the crime was heinous, it did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty.Additional district and sessions judge Lokesh Varun on Tuesday convicted Anand Kumar of murder and illegal possession of a weapon, sentencing him to life imprisonment and imposing a total fine of Rs 15,000. “Keeping in view the gravity of the crime… this court is of the opinion that the ends of justice will be served by punishing the accused Anand with life imprisonment,” the judge said.On May 1, 2021, an FIR was registered at Loni police station on a complaint by the couple’s son, Harsh Kumar, who witnessed the attack along with his younger brother.According to the complaint, an argument between Anand and his wife, Geeta Devi, escalated around 11am. “My father picked up a knife with the intention of killing my mother. He first thrust it into her mouth, cut her tongue and then stabbed her in the abdomen,” Harsh told police.After Geeta collapsed with grievous injuries, Anand stabbed himself too. The two brothers, aided by neighbours, rushed them to hospital, where Geeta died during treatment.Police arrested Anand on May 22, 2021. During the probe, they recovered the knife allegedly used in the murder at his instance, leading to an additional case under the Arms Act. Separate chargesheets for murder and illegal weapon possession were later clubbed for trial.The prosecution examined 13 witnesses, including the couple’s sons and neighbours. During the trial, the defence claimed an “unidentified thief” had attacked the couple during a burglary attempt. However, the prosecution argued that no evidence supported this claim.Rejecting the defence, the court observed, “Even if it is assumed that an unknown thief stabbed the deceased, it is natural that he would have taken the murder weapon with him. However, the weapon was recovered from under the bed mattress after being indicated by the accused… This clearly shows that the accused stabbed the deceased to death.”The court convicted Anand under Section 302 of IPC (murder) and Section 25/4 of the Arms Act.
