Terming the case in the category of “rarest of rare,” a Delhi court, in the first such case of honour killing, has awarded death penalty to three members of a family, including the husband for killing his wife who demanded transfer of a piece of land in the name of her children.
Taking a cue from the Supreme Court, which recently favoured death sentence to those found guilty of honour killing, additional sessions judge (ASJ) Dinesh Kumar Sharma said, a message should go to the society that if an innocent woman is killed in such a brutal manner, the gallows await them.
Justifying the capital punishment meted out to the three convicts Surender Singh, his mother and brother Narender, for killing the woman, Urmila, the ASJ observed, “It is the right time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation. In such cases, death penalty is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour. A message should go to the society that if an innocent woman is killed in such a brutal manner, the gallows await them.”
The victim Urmila was murdered by her husband Surender and other relatives on the intervening night of October 15-16, 2007 in front of her three children when she had demanded transfer of a piece of land in the name of her children.
The court , in its order, said, “The act of the convicts reflect extreme depravity and the gruesome manner in which they killed the deceased and dealt with her body,” adding that it was not the murder of a woman but it was a murder and assault on the dignity of entire womanhood.
The court convicted and sentenced the trio to capital punishment on the basis of the eyewitness account of Urmila’s three minor kids who had deposed before the court saying that their father, uncle and grandmother had killed their mother.
The ASJ, in its order, said, “The motive was only that this helpless lady used to ask for a certain piece of land may be for the future safety of her children. This case also indicates towards the mentality of a honour killing where if a lady raises voice in the family, the family gets together and done her away with death.”