Delhi: Man gets 7 years in jail for setting ablaze wife

New Delhi: A Delhi court has sentenced a 26-year-old man to seven years imprisonment for unintentionally setting ablaze his wife during a quarrel between them, saying being the husband he was "supposed to take very good care of her" but he did not.

Additional Sessions Judge Gautam Manan handed down the jail term to west Delhi resident for pouring kerosene oil on his wife and pushing her towards fire during a quarrel leading to 90 per cent burns and finally succumbing to death.

"He being the husband was supposed to take very good care of his wife instead he poured kerosene on her and pushed her towards fire..." Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and keeping in view the relevant statutory provisions, the convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of seven years," the judge said while also imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.

The court held him guilty under section 304 Part 1 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC while diluting the charge of murder, saying that his act "was not premeditated and lacked any motive to cause death."

"... There was no preparation with an intention to cause the death of the victim. The incident took place in the spur of the moment and the act of the youth was not pre-planned," it noted.

"However, the youth has to be attributed the knowledge that being near the gas, there was every likelihood that clothes of the victim would catch the fire on kerosene oil being poured on her. The innocence of the accused is negated by his act of pouring the kerosene on her and then pushing her," the court said.

It relied on the dying declaration of the woman, who succumbed to burn injuries a month after the incident, saying that she had a quarrel with her husband because of her in-laws and in a fit of rage he poured kerosene on her and pushed her on a burning stove.

It also relied on the post mortem report of the victim which proved 'unnatural death'. According to prosecution, on March 9, 2009, the woman's father lodged a complaint against her husband and in-laws alleging that they had poured kerosene oil on her and set her ablaze for bringing insufficient dowry.