Karnataka HC confirms death sentence of man convicted of killing wife, 3 kids in 2017

The man had appealed the death penalty handed down by a sessions court earlier.

The incident took place in Karnataka’s Ballari in February 2017. The man allegedly started quarrelling with his wife, doubting her fidelity and the paternity of three of his four children. He then allegedly murdered her, her sister and his children using a chopper.

While the counsel for the accused argued that the crime had not been witnessed and that the case had not been proved beyond doubt and had multiple loopholes, the prosecution countered that no one else was in a position to have committed the crime. The prosecution also pointed out that several witnesses had heard him confess to the deed and argued that it was a fit case for the death penalty as it was a rarest-of-the-rare incident, with five people having been killed.

The bench pointed out that this was backed up by the fact that he had surrendered himself to the police in bloodstained clothes; the disputes between him and his wife were known to locals; and he had sent away the one daughter whose paternity he did not doubt.

“Despite our attempts to find some mitigating factors or other, we are unable to do so… There are no circumstances favoring the appellant in the present manner. The atrocity of the crime resulting in five deaths including of 3 children below 10 years of age and the brutality with which the same has been committed leaves us no option but to confirm the order of death sentence passed by the trial court, which we do with a heavy heart,” the bench said.

The bench further ordered that in cases where a public prosecutor has sought the death penalty, he would have to place on record a report on the convict’s conduct and behaviour in jail, psychological and physiological evaluation, family background, history of violence, socioeconomic background, and whether the convict can be reformed, among other factors.