A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra passed this interim order on a special leave petition filed by Sukhdev Singh challenging the life sentence awarded to him by the trial court and upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Justice Katju, who wrote the order, said: “This is a clear case of brutal and barbaric murder of Daljit Kaur. Crimes against women are not ordinary crimes committed in a fit of anger or for property. They disrupt the entire social fabric. Hence, they call for harsh punishment.”
The Bench pointed out that in this case the petitioner had first strangulated his wife and then burnt her.
“The doctor’s report shows that some of the bones of her neck have been fractured and there is bleeding on the neck. In our prima facie opinion, these could clearly not be self-inflicted injuries. Also, there are burns all over the body.”
Ill-treated
It said: “The depositions of the witnesses show that it was the petitioner, the husband of Daljit Kaur, who was present in the house when she died. There is evidence that Daljit Kaur was being ill-treated by her husband and was often beaten by him.
“In our opinion, crimes of the nature which has been committed in the present case outrage the modern conscience [of the society] and they belong to the rarest of rare category, deserving death sentence. Issue notice to the petitioner as to why his life sentence be not enhanced to death sentence. Petitioner shall also be at liberty to argue the case on merits,” the Bench said.