HC upholds life term awarded to woman who killed husband

On the night of June 14, Jyoti gave Vijay a glass of milk before going to sleep. On the morning of June 15, Jyoti called out to Abhay, who was sleeping on the mezzanine floor, to tell him that Vijay was not waking up. Abhay took Vijay to Rajawadi Hospital but he was declared dead before admission. A police complaint was filed.

Abhay claimed that Jyoti had confessed to giving Vijay the sleeping pills and strangulating him at night.

According to the prosecution, Jyoti had hatched a conspiracy with her former lover Jeevan Warangade to eliminate Vijay. The trial court had, however, acquitted Warangade citing lack of evidence against him.

While upholding Jyoti’s life sentence, Justices V K Tahilramani and V L Achliya observed that there were no eyewitnesses to
the crime and the evidence was circumstantial.

The court took note of Jyoti’s extra-judicial confession made before Abhay. “We are of the view that Abhay’s testimony inspires full confidence and is found to be truthful. So also, the extra-judicial confession made by the accused to him is found to be voluntary and does not suffer from any material discrepancies,” the court said.

Accepting the extra-judicial confession as admissible evidence, the court confirmed the punishment handed out to Jyoti.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com