Court gives man life term for killing his wife for dowry

Kanpur: Additional sessions judge (Court no. 10) Kanpur Nagar Prabha Nath Tripathi on Tuesday sentenced accused Mabia to life imprisonment and also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 for committing murder of his wife.
Mabia was arrested by the Badshahi Naka police for dowry death and booked under the Anti-Dowry Act. He was also charged under the Arms Act.
The court acquitted Mabia from the charges under section 498A and 304B of IPC but held him guilty under section 4 of the Anti-Dowry Act, section 302 of IPC and the Arms Act. Co-accused Chand Babu, who is brother of the accused, was acquitted of all the charges for want of evidence.
According to Pradyumna Awasthi, additional district government counsel, one Zubair Ahmad, a resident of Quli Bazar lodged a report wherein he stated that he had married his daughter Safia to Mabia in 2012.
Mabia, his father Rafiq Qurreshi and brother Chand Babu used to thrash Safia and asked her to bring money from her parents, he alleged.On September 13, 2015 at around 2 am, he received a message that Mabia and his family members were thrashing Safia. He and his son Danish rushed to her house and saw that Mabia had shot Safia on her head after which Mabia, Rafiq and Chand Babu ran away from the spot, the complainant said.
The complainant said he immediately took his daughter to UHM hospital. The doctors referred her to LLR hospital where she succumbed to her injuries during treatment. Police had arrested Mabia on September 15, 2015 from the Cooperganj area and recovered a country-made 315 bore pistol from his possession.
On the point of sentence, the ADGC submitted that since the accused had killed his wife from an illegal firearm, he should be awarded a maximum sentence.
On the other hand, the defence counsel argued that the accused was unemployed and that it was his first offence, and there were possibilities that he would amend his behaviour, hence minimum punishment be given to him.