Man who killed wife for money gets life sentence

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A 56-year-old who killed his wife because she refused to give him money for him to consume alcohol has been sentenced to imprisonment for life.

The High Court said that the allegations against him are proved beyond reasonable doubt and the sentence for life is proportionate to the gravity of the offence. Fakirappa is from Hirekumbi, Saundatti in Belagavi. He allegedly quarreled with his wife Siddalingavva, often demanding money from her.

On January 17, 2014 he went to the village school where she worked as a cook in the midday meals project and demanded money. When she refused, he attacked her with an ‘adakotha’ (betel nut cracker). Siddalingavva succumbed to the multiple injuries she sustained.

Fakirappa was charged under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The IX Additional District and Sessions Judge, Belagavi, sentenced him to imprisonment for life on January 31, 2020. He challenged this before a division bench of the HC. The bench comprising Justice HB Prabhakara Sastry and Justice CM Joshi gave its judgment recently.

The HC noted that, “According to the prosecution, the motive behind commission of the crime was refusal of the deceased to pay money to the accused demanded by him at the time of the incident. It is also the case of the prosecution that the accused without earning anything for the family was roaming in the village and spending time. He was in the habit of consuming liquor and frequently demanding money from his wife to meet his vices. Even the son and the daughter of the accused have stated that the accused was not earning anything for the family but was roaming in the village without doing any work.” The HC said that his defence was not acceptable.

“His general defence that he was not the one who committed the alleged offence also has not been admitted as true. Therefore, the defence taken by the accused could not stand on its leg nor could it introduce any doubt in the case of the prosecution. All this evidence would prove beyond reasonable doubt that the death of Siddalingavva Fakirappa Jatannavar was homicidal and it was the accused and accused alone who has caused her death knowingly and with an intention to put an end to her life.” The HC also said that the life sentence imposed on him was right.

“Since the minimum punishment for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code is simple imprisonment for life and the order of sentence passed by the Sessions Judge’s Court is proportionate to the gravity of the proven guilt and also after considering the mitigating factors, we do not find any reason even to interfere in the impugned order on sentence,” the HC said dismissing his appeal.