Bombay HC reduces life sentence to 10 years for Raigad man who stabbed wife 26 times
India Today
Ruling that the incident was a case of culpable homicide and not murder, the Bombay High Court reduced the convicted man's sentence from life imprisonment to 10 years' jail time.
A man who appealed against life imprisonment for the murder of his wife had his jail time commuted to 10 years after the Bombay High Court observed that his actions were a result of provocation which left his "pride wounded".
A bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan noted that prior to the crime, the couple who lived in Maharashtra’s Raigad district had quarrelled, their tempers were high, and they had also consumed alcohol.
“The statement of the accused recorded by the police would show that he was left with a feeling of mortification. According to him, he was left with a wounded pride, which resulted in the brutal death of his wife,” it said.
The case of the prosecution was that on April 24, 2011 at about 4 am, 36-year-old Pravin Chauhan visited Kalamboli Police Station with blood-stained clothes on his person. He informed policemen that he suspected the character of his wife, that there was a quarrel on that count, and at around 12.30 am, he killed her by assaulting her with a knife.
The FIR was recorded in the station diary, after which Chauhan led the police to his house. Upon entering the house, they saw the dead body of his wife, Renu, in a pool of blood. There were injuries all over her body.
READ | Father only scolded son, provocation not grave to murder: Bombay HC dismisses man's appeal against life sentence
After the trial ensued, Chauhan, who worked as a labourer with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, was sentenced to life in prison.
