Man gets life term for killing wife

NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from the Supreme Court's recent concern over rising instances of acid attack, the Delhi high court has awarded rigorous imprisonment for life to a man for throwing acid on his wife which resulted in her death.

A division bench comprising Justice G S Sistani and Justice G P Mittal termed Nitin Arora's crime as "dastardly and cowardly" saying such offences must be controlled with an "iron hand." "Throwing acid on helpless victims, mostly women, is on rise...It sometimes leaves them disfigured, blind and, in this case, even dead," the bench noted, upholding the trial court's order. HC also said that Arora won't be eligible for any remission benefits and will remain behind bars forever.

HC concurred with the trial court's January 7, 2009 order where the judge said, "life imprisonment would be complete life term without any commutation on account of conduct of the convict". Arora had poured a jug of acid on his estranged wife for her failure to meet his dowry demands. HC also relied on a study by Cornell University (New York) revealing a spate in acid attacks between 1999 and 2010.

According to the prosecution, Arora, a resident of Gokulpuri area married Khushi on May 31, 2005. The chargesheet said she suffered physical assaults from her husband and other family members for not bringing sufficient dowry.

On November 20, 2006, after a quarrel with her husband, Khushi left her matrimonial home and went to live with her mother. Later, Arora landed up at her place of work—a cosmetic shop—with a jug of acid and poured it on her. After battling for life for about a month, Khushi succumbed to her injuries on December 17, 2006. Rejecting Arora's argument that he had no intention of killing his wife, HC said "It cannot be said that Arora was not aware that in case he throws a jug full of acid it would not cause death of Khushi."