TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Principal Sessions Judge B P Deshpande on Tuesday sentenced a then newly wedded husband to life imprisonment, for killing his bride in January 2007. The mother-in-law was sentenced to seven years in jail.
The convicts Shankar Shetgaonkar and Satyavati Shetgaonkar have been found guilty for subjecting Geeta to cruelty by burning her body parts, demanding dowry in the form of gold and cash. The victim was found dead in the toilet at her in-laws’ residence in Morjim with burn injuries on January 26, 2007.
The prosecution’s case was that soon after the marriage in July 2006, her husband and in-laws began harassing her by demanding gold and cash as dowry. Accepting the prosecution’s submissions, the court observed that the accused subjected her to cruelty whilst she was not even given proper food. The medical examination had proven ‘excessive heat injuries’ on the body.
Since the death happened before seven years of their marriage, SDM’s inquiry was also carried out even as police had begun an investigation against the accused.
In another conviction order, the Principal Sessions Judge sentenced Yogesh Palyekar to seven years in jail for raping a woman for over three months, on the pretext of marrying her. Both, the accused and victim were known to each other as they worked in a casino. The accused has also been fined Rs 16,000.
for the offence, committed between Nov 2013 and January 2014.
