The Bombay high court recently upheld the conviction and life sentence of a man convicted for killing his wife by setting her ablaze suspecting her character. The court relied on the testimony of the minor son of the accused while upholding his conviction.

The prosecution case is that Vishnu Khopkar was married to Aruna Khopkar and during 13 years of marriage they had two daughters and three sons. Khopkar was addicted to liquor and used to doubt Aruna’s character. On December 12, 2010 around 10 pm, the accused reached his home in Datta Nagar, Nalasopara and started quarrelling with his wife and soon doused her in kerosene and set her ablaze. Later, she died in Bhagwati Hospital on December 31, 2010.

Relying on the dying declaration and evidence of witnesses, especially of Rahul, the son of the accused and the victim, who was 12-years-old at the time of the incident and 15-years-old at the time of testifying in the trial court.

Vishnu challenged his conviction in the Bombay high court and the division bench of Acting Chief Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Dr Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi also took into consideration Rahul’s statement as evidence.

Rahul, in his statement, had said that on the date of the incident his father, in an inebriated state, was abusing his mother. He then poured kerosene on his mother, lit a matchstick and set her on fire. As per Rahul’s statement, the first three matchsticks lighted by his father got extinguished, but he was successful in the fourth attempt. Revealing chilling facts of the case, he said his mother tried to run towards kitchen to extinguish her fire, however, his father caught hold of her hand and did not allow her to go to the kitchen. Therefore, Rahul and his brother Rohan brought water from the kitchen to extinguish the fire. In this attempt, Rohan’s pant caught fire and he burnt his hand so went outside and started shouting for help. Thereafter, Aruna’s sister Rekha, who lived close by, and with the help of some neighbours rescued Aruna and took her to the hospital.

Vishnu, in his appeal in the high court, had claimed that Rekha tutored his son with whom he is residing after Aruna’s death. However, the court held that Rahul was sufficiently mature to know the implication of his testimony. The judges said that he gave all the details of the incident that was corroborated by medical evidence. “His testimony gave an impression of a truthful witness,” observed the bench while upholding his conviction and sentence.