Court awards Life Sentence to Husband for killing Wife relying on Minor Son's deposition

On the basis of his minor son's evidence, a 54-year-old banana leaf trader was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his wife in their JP Nagar residence in 2015.

A city civil & sessions court also slapped a fine of Rs 40,000 on Kemparaju CD, a resident of Vaddarapalya, JP Nagar VIII Phase & from Chikkakallabalu village, near Kanakapura.

Kemparaju bludgeoned & stabbed his wife Suguna to death on Mar 26, 2015 even as his 16-year-old son witnessed his father's act through a kitchen window from outside their rental house.

Subramanyapura police arrested Kemparaju the same evening after his son Sagar (name changed), now 21, filed a complaint against him.

Sagar made a statement before the magistrate as he was a minor at the time of the offence. Deposing before the court later, Saga said he heard his mother screaming inside the house on the fateful day & tried to get in. But he found the door was locked from inside & peeped through the kitchen window to check what happened to her. He noticed Kemparaju stabbing his mother multiple times & hitting her with a wooden stick used to make ragi ball.

During cross-examination, Sagar told the defence counsel that the kitchen window had a glass pane of the kind that was in the court. The defence counsel disputed Sagar's version & argued that no one could see what was happening at the other side of the window when it had a thick glass. But Sagar said the window was open when the incident took place. Sagar's narration corroborated with his mother's injuries.

According to police investigation, Kemparaju suspected his wife & 18-year-old daughter's characters. It led to frequent quarrels in the house. Kemparaju decided to eliminate his wife & daughter, but the girl wasn't at home when he killed his spouse.

Kemparaju also planned to commit suicide & even carried a note announcing the same with him. The suicide note was found on Kemparaju at the time of his arrest. In the note he said he wasn't happy because of his wife & children. He said they'd be responsible for his death if he were to commit suicide. After going through the note, the court opined that he held a grudge against his wife & daughter.

"He should be punished with imprisonment for life with fine, since he killed his wife barbarously & such criminals are always fatal to society," E Rajeeva Gowda, 45th additional city civil & session judge said in the judgment pronounced on Feb 25.

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