"You are accused of murdering your husband by electrocution. What do you have to say about the post-mortem's findings?" a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge asked a woman.
Gathering the tools at her disposal - her confidence and years of teaching chemistry - 60-year-old professor Mamta Pathak shot off a reply that took the Bench by surprise. "Sir, it is not possible to differentiate between thermal burn marks and electric burn marks in a post-mortem room," she said.
Before the division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Devnarayan Mishra, Mamta Pathak, an assistant professor of chemistry, delivered a short master class. She gave a complex explanation about how electric current interacts with tissues, mentioning the deposition of medical metal particles, acid-based separations in lab tests, and chemical reactions that can only be accurately interpreted post-lab analysis. She explained that such observations cannot be made visually.
This extraordinary exchange at the hearing of the murder case against Mamata Pathak, has stunned legal circles and drawn social media posts describing it as "one of the most unusual courtroom defenses in recent memory".
On April 29, 2021 in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur, Mamta Pathak had allegedly given her husband Neeraj Pathak, a retired government doctor, a heavy dose of sleeping pills, before allegedly electrocuting him. She then left for Jhansi with her son.
During police investigations, she claimed she had returned from Jhansi on May 1 and found her husband dead. Then came a voice recording of Neeraj Pathak claiming his wife tortured him, and their driver's testimony about her confessing to a "big mistake". This turned the case against her.
More evidence of the troubled marriage added context to the case, with investigations revealing Mamta Pathak had filed a complaint alleging domestic abuse and accusing her husband of drugging her food. She later withdrew the complaint.
A sessions court found her guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced her to a life term. She then approached the High Court and secured bail last year.
After the last hearing on April 29, the Bench has reserved judgement. Mamta Pathak remains out on bail.
