Bombay HC nod to hang Nashik man for killing pregnant daughter

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence of Eknath Kumbharkar, 44, from Nashik for strangling his pregnant daughter, Pramila, to death in 2013 for marrying outside their caste.

"It is a case of honour killing... There is no question of showing any mercy to him. He has committed murder of his own daughter and unborn grandchild as he thought that his reputation was spoiled due to the intercaste marriage performed by his daughter," said a division bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi. The court agreed with the prosecution that it was a "pre-meditated" and "cold blooded murder" and falls within the definition of rarest of rare case where death penalty should be awarded.
The bench refused to sympathetically consider the case. "The accused is nothing but a menace to society. He has broken the traditional value of a father-and-daughter relationship. The accused ought to have taken care of his pregnant daughter, who accompanied him in good faith to see her grandmother, who was on her death bed... The accused in no way deserves any leniency. The accused has infringed on the right to live with human dignity and decency in respect of his daughter as well as unborn grandchild."
Additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde said Kumbharkar had killed his own daughter as he felt she had tarnished his reputation by marrying a person from another caste.
Kumbharkar's daughter Pramila had married Nashik-based Deepak Kamble in 2013. According to the police, the Kumbharkar family was from the Gavali caste and Deepak belonged to the Matang caste. On June 28, 2013, Kumbharkar took her to meet her grandmother's place. While they were returning, Kumbharkar asked the autorickshaw driver to halt near a hospital and call a ward boy. Kumbharkar strangled his daughter to death with a petticoat string and fled. Pramila was declared dead at the hospital. Her nine-month foetus was also declared dead.
The driver, Pramila's mother and mother-in-law were the prime witnesses in the case. Kumbharkar's wife told the trial court that he was upset as he thought his community had not accepted the marriage and he had been defamed. A sessions court in Nashik held Kumbharkar guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. The high court agreed that the accused was "unfit to revert back to civilised society. The accused will be dangerous to any member of the society, including his wife".