Man in jail for mom-in-law’s murder has appeal rejected

Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently rejected an appeal filed by a man against his conviction for murdering his mother-in-law. The prosecution’s case is that the man had beaten up his mother-in-law Sadhna Ahir for a couple of hours as she wanted to sell her ancestral property instead of transferring it in her son’s name. The convict had contended that this could not be a case of murder because the victim could have survived had she been given medical assistance. The court, however, held that this argument is irrelevant because as per Indian Penal Code provisions, it only has to be seen if the injuries were sufficient to cause death or not.

There were eyewitnesses, including Pratiksha, the wife of the accused Prakash Lad (30), who proved that Lad had beaten up his mother-in-law with a stick on February 23, 2012. According to witnesses, the victim had returned home from a bank and, soon after, there was an altercation between accused and the victim because the lady wanted to sell her property, in which the accused lived as well.