Convicted of murdering a woman after she rejected his marriage proposal, a Kalaburagi man had appealed against the trial court verdict, claiming his act was the result of sudden provocation.
However, the high court has refused to accept his contention, noting he can’t take refuge under the defence as the victim was only asserting her individual autonomy by turning him down.
Such defence can’t be allowed in instances wherein the accused dehumanises the victim, the HC observed while upholding the life sentence imposed on Vijay alias Vijendra, a resident of Javalaga in Aland taluk, Kalaburagi district.
On January 23, 2016, the 4th additional district and sessions judge Kalaburagi convicted Vijay of Pushpa’s murder in 2009. She was repeatedly stabbed to death. He challenged the verdict. But an HC division bench comprising justices Sunil Dutt Yadav and P Krishna Bhat didn’t accept his contention.
The judges noted that the evidence on record clearly shows the accused had gone to the house of the deceased, armed with a knife and determined not to take no for an answer. He tried to impose on her by asking her to marry him and on refusal, stabbed her repeatedly using the said knife.
“The circumstance in which he committed the offence clearly shows he could not stand the fact that a woman could refuse his proposal. In such a situation, it is completely absurd to contend there was grave and sudden provocation from the deceased...,” the judges pointed out.
The bench added that extending the protective umbrella of ‘grave and sudden provocation’ to the accused, in the facts and circumstances of this case, apart from being ‘obnoxious’ will have the effect of robbing the victim of her fundamental right to choose a husband.
Stabbed her in abdomen, chest in front of sister
The prosecution’s case was that Vijay, who was pursuing and pressuring Pushpa to marry him, started resorting to abusive tactics when she rejected the proposal.
Around 12.45pm on April 27, 2009, when Pushpa was watching TV along with her younger sister, Vijay entered her house and told her she should marry him and if she didn’t agree, he wouldn’t allow her to wed anybody else.
When the victim said no, Vijay whipped out a knife and stabbed her in the chest, abdomen and shoulder etc., causing her seven to eight serious injuries. When Pushpa’s sister tried to intervene and raised an alarm and neighbours and others began to gather, Vijay ran away leaving the bloody weapon behind.
Some time thereafter, the victim’s parents returned only to see their daughter lying in a pool of blood, but still alive. She narrated what had transpired to them. She was shifted to a local hospital, then to Ashwini Hospital, Solapur and finally to YMC Hospital, Pune, where she breathed her last on June 7, 2009 while undergoing treatment.
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