SC upholds conviction of 'sadist husband'

A lawyer accused of derived "sadistic" pleasure in ill-treating his wife and drove her to commit suicide has been held guilty by the apex court which noted that the evidence clearly indicated that he harassed her and abetted her death.

A lawyer accused of derived "sadistic" pleasure in ill-treating his wife and drove her to commit suicide has been held guilty by the Supreme Court which noted that the evidence clearly indicated that he harassed her and abetted her death.

HT Image

A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Harjit Singh Bedi rejected the plea of the accused Milind Bhagwanrao Godse that his wife Lata had committed suicide as he could not fulfil her desires of an ambitious and luxurious lifestyle. The court upheld the three-year imprisonment handed down to him by the trial court.

The deceased in a letter written to her parents while narrating various instances of torture had stated that her husband had fractured the bone of their son Rohit, for the simple reason that his wife was very attached to him.

Further, he wanted his own son to be a handicapped person like Godse's younger brother who was physically handicapped, the wife in her letter stated.

"Letter written by the deceased to her parents on October 9, 1989, immediately before she had committed suicide, gives graphic description of the number of instances of extreme mental torture, day in and day out.

"This letter gives the impression that the appellant (Godse) was deriving sadistic pleasure in causing extreme mental torture to the deceased. He would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the maximum mental and agony is caused to the deceased," the bench observed while dismissing his appeal.