New Delhi:
Life imprisonment given to a man for murdering his wife in 2003 has been upheld by the Supreme Court on the basis of circumstantial evidences.
A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi upheld the man's life term saying that although there was no eye witness in the case, the circumstantial evidence and the fact that the husband had fled from the house and remained untraced for 15 days, leaves no doubt that he had committed the crime.
"The accused was seen fleeing away from the house. Thereafter, his whereabouts were not known until he was arrested. After his arrest, the accused had made a statement on the basis of which a knife and a blood-stained shirt of the accused were recovered.
"The explanation offered by the accused for his absence for a period of nearly 15 days following the death of his wife is unnatural and opposed to all cannons of acceptable human conduct and behaviour," the bench said.
The court dismissed the appeal of convict Vadlakonda Lenin, a resident of Maripeda village in Andhra Pradesh, against the life-term awarded to him by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
"We are left with no doubt whatsoever that in the present case the prosecution has established beyond all reasonable doubt that it is the accused alone and nobody who had committed the offence.
"We, therefore, dismiss the appeal and affirm the conviction of the accused under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on him," the bench said.
In this case Lenin had absconded after murdering his wife Radha on April 18, 2003 but he was arrested on May 3, 2003. His in-laws had deposed before the trial court saying that the convict had been harassing Radha for dowry and had inflicted atrocities on her.