Ahmedabad, March 16: A court here has sentenced a man to death for murdering his pregnant sister and her husband in a case of honour killing in Gujarat's Ahmedabad district. The court of additional sessions judge J A Thakkar on Tuesday noted that the case fell under the "rarest of the rare" category, and the convict deserved the maximum punishment of death penalty for triple murder of the married couple and their unborn child.

In September, 2018, Hardik Chavda had stabbed his pregnant sister Tarunaben (21) eight times and her husband Vishal Parmar (22) 17 times with a knife in full public view, after holding a grudge against them for marrying against the family's wishes.

The court observed that any relaxation in awarding capital punishment to the convict will encourage the mentality that drives people to go for honour killings. Uttar Pradesh: Man Awarded Death Sentence for Raping, Killing Five-Year-Old Niece.

It further said that the case cannot be taken lightly, because doing so will be an injustice to women in the society and their right to choose their life partners.

Chavda was arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged by Lalit Parmar, the brother of deceased Vishal, at Sanand police station on September 26, 2018, under sections 302 (murder) and 316 (causing death of unborn child) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the FIR, the complainant had said that Tarunaben had married his brother against the wishes of her family. Her family members were not happy with the marriage. On the evening of September 28, 2018, Chavda visited their residence at Jadhav Vaas locality of Sanand and murdered the couple and their unborn child.