SC upholds life term of three for killing daughter-in-law, chopping off her body

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and life term awarded to three members of a family for murdering and chopping off their young bride's body and disposing it of in a park ten years ago.

A bench of justices Prafulla C Pant and D Y Chandrachud, after re-appreciating the evidence on record, agreed with the views of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the trial court that the father-in-law, mother-in-law and the husband of the victim had "common intention" to commit the murder.

"Therefore, having re-appreciated the entire evidence on record, we concur with the courts below that appellants had a common intention in commission of the brutal murder. It is not a fit case where impugned order requires any interference," the bench said and dismissed the appeals of the three convicts.

The young woman was murdered within six months of her marriage, the bench noted while upholding their conviction.

The apex court also noted that the appellants' claim that the woman had gone missing after going to a relative's place, was "a blatant false plea" as it was proved on record that the victim was murdered inside their house in Indore.

The court rejected the father-in-law and husband's plea that they were in their shop the whole day when the victim had died and only the mother-in-law was at home.

It said that as per the number of anti-mortem and post-mortem injuries mentioned in the autopsy report, it was "established beyond reasonable doubt" that the crime could not have been committed by one person alone. "It is nobody's case that any outsider came in the house," it added.

According to the prosecution, the crime was committed on September 16, 2006 and came to light when some persons saw the mother-in-law throw bundles of the chopped body in the park.