This Article is From Nov 15, 2010

Senior citizen sentenced to 10 years in jail

Mumbai: Anjanabai Pendhare, a resident of a small village near Malegoan, will have to spend the next 10 years behind bars.

For the past 13 years, she remained out of prison, even though she was accused of setting ablaze her 'savat' (husband's second wife) Jeejabai after a petty quarrel. But her luck ran out after the Bombay high court last month partly allowed her appeal and sentenced her to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment.

Anjanabai, now in her late fifties, was convicted to life imprisonment in 1997 by a Malegaon sessions court. She was out on bail and had filed an appeal in the high court challenging her sentence.

A division bench of justice DD Sinha and justice AP Bhangale on October 28 commuted the life sentence granted to Anjanabai to ten years' rigorous imprisonment. The judges, after hearing her appeal, commuted the offence of murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

They ruled that such an act on part of the accused cannot amount to murder and she should instead be convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The judges sentenced Anjanabai to the maximum punishment under the said section.

The court also noted that a dying declaration given by Jeejabai was "truthful and reliable." Jeejabai, who succumbed to burn injuries two days after the incident, told the police that after setting her on fire, Anjanabai and their husband Ashok tried to extinguish the fire and also hospitalised her.

According to the prosecution's case, Anjanabai, Ashok and Jeejabai used to reside together. There used to be frequent quarrels between the women. On January 22, 1996, Anjanabai demanded money earned by Jeejabai for the agricultural labour work performed by her, which Jeejabai refused to pay. This led to a quarrel between them. Enraged by the refusal, Anjanabai poured kerosene on Jeejabai and set her ablaze.

Anjanabai and Ashok had tried to extinguish the fire and rushed Jeejabai to a hospital in Dhule. The court observed: "The act of setting Jeejabai on fire by the accused was a result of a sudden quarrel. In the heat of the moment, the appellant (Anjanabai) had lost the power of self-control."


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