India News | Court Awards Life Imprisonment to Man for Killing Pregnant Lover,her 7 Yr-old Son

Malappuram/Palakkad (Ker), Oct 6 (PTI) A district court here on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his pregnant paramour and her seven-year-old son, and also to a 10 year sentence for the death of the unborn baby more than four years ago.

The pronouncement of the sentence, however, was delayed in the morning as the convict attempted suicide in his cell in a Palakkad sub-jail where he was lodged, police said.

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After awarding the punishment, Additional Sessions Judge Tommy Varghese of Manjeri District Court directed that the convict will first serve the 10 year jail term for the death of the unborn baby, whom he had fathered as per a DNA test report, and thereafter, his life sentence would commence.

Besides that, the convict was also slapped with a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh, failing to pay which would add another two years and three months to his incarceration, Additional Public Prosecutor C Vasu, who argued the case for the state, said.

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The prosecutor said that the convict, who was married and had children, was in a live-in sort of relationship with the woman, who was a divorcee and had a seven-year-old son from one of her previous marriages.

After he found out that she was pregnant with his child, he planned to kill her to conceal his affair and was biding his time, Vasu told PTI.

Giving details of the case and the murder, the prosecutor said the convict -- Muhammed Shariff -- killed the deceased -- Ummu Salma -- on the day she was to be admitted in hospital for her delivery.

The prosecutor said that in his confession, Shariff had said that he first strangulated the woman and when she fell unconscious, cut the veins f her hand to make it look like a suicide.

The woman as a result bled to death, according to the post-mortem report.

The seven year-old boy was strangulated to death and the vein of his hand was cut to make it also look like a suicide as the child had witnessed the murder of his mother, Shariff had said in his confession, according to the prosecutor.

During the trial, he had taken the defence that the woman and her son had committed suicide and that it was not a murder.

"It was a cold blooded, ruthless and premeditated murder and the prosecution was able to prove the same, based on circumstantial and scientific evidence -- with the help of cyber cell and scientific experts -- and last seen evidence," Vasu said.

Shariff was last seen with the woman on the date of the incident -- May 22, 2017 -- by an Asha worker of the area, who had gone to the victim's house to accompany her to the hospital for her delivery.

The prosecution was able to present an unbroken chain of circumstances before the court which led to the conviction and sentence, Vasu said and added that the verdict was a boost for women at a time when there has been an increase in attacks on them.

He also said that the judgement will not only result in strengthening the people's faith in the judiciary, but also serve as a warning to those perpetrating violence on women.

The prosecutor also said that Shariff, a contractor, never called the woman from his numbers, but from the phones of his employees, most of whom hailed from Tamil Nadu and came here for work for short durations.

Regarding his attempted suicide before the verdict, police said that this was not his first attempt.

He had earlier also tried to kill himself while in police custody, police said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)