Maharashtra: Man gets 10 years for torturing wife to death

With the rise in cases of marital disputes filed by newly-weds, there is a need to educate women on their rights, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court (HC) said on Wednesday, while sentencing a man to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, for torturing his wife and driving her to commit suicide.

With the rise in cases of marital disputes filed by newly-weds, there is a need to educate women on their rights, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court (HC) said on Wednesday, while sentencing a man to 10 years rigorous imprisonment, for torturing his wife and driving her to commit suicide.

Sanjay Pachaghare, a resident of Tiosa in Amravati district, got married to Vandana, who worked as teacher, a few years ago. Casting aspersions on her character, he used to torture her mentally and physically. Frustrated, the 24-year-old woman committed suicide with her stillborn, within six months of her marriage.

“Vandana’s father, who also had four other daughters, must have raised her with so much difficulty. He still trained her to become a teacher. She must have dreamt of a happy married life, but the torture by the accused drove to commit suicide with stillborn,” said justice Arun Chaudhari, who authored the judgement on behalf of the division bench of justice Arun Chaudhari and justice PN Deshmukh, while refusing to grant Pachagare any facility of remission.

While the court rejected Sanjay’s defences, they found the evidence on the murder charge against him weak, but held him guilty of torture.