THANE:
Deposition by two brothers in court nailed their father and got him a
life sentence for setting ablaze their mother in Mumbra in 2013.
District judge HM Patwardhan, while convicting Balasaheb Baswant (37), also awarded him life term and Rs 10,000 fine.
The judge took serious note of what the two children, then studying in class 9 and 10 - narrated during their deposition in court.
Prosecutor Varsha Chandane told the court that the couple quarrelled often as the man was a habitual drunkard. The prosecutor told the court was around 12.30 am on December 21, 2013 that Baswant got home drunk and got into a tiff with his wife Shobha. In a rage, he doused her with kerosene, set her afire and fled. She died of burn injuries two days later.
In his deposition, one of the sons told the court that that their drunk father started beating them. The father then poured kerosene on their mother and set her ablaze, he told the court.
The boys alerted their grandparents who lived nearby. As the grandparents reached the house, their father slipped out of the house, the court was told.
The defence counsel said that the father was being falsely implicated.
The judge, however, said there was nothing to suggest that the children were interested in falsely implicating their father.
