Man awarded death sentence for beheading mother in J&K’s Udhampur

Jammu, Apr 16 (PTI) A local court has awarded death penalty to a 45-year-old man for beheading his mother in 2014 over a piece of land in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The offence of murder committed by the convict seems to be pre-meditated one. The convict has committed the offence of murder upon the old defenceless mother by first attacking her with a sickle on the neck and thereafter chopping off her head with an axe in a very inhuman and barbaric manner,” Principal Sessions Judge, Udhampur, Haq Nawaz Zargar said in his judgement on Saturday.

Jeet Singh, a resident of Ramnagar, murdered his mother Vaishno Devi on December 7, 2014 at their house. He also tried to kill his wife Santosh Devi when she tried to come to the rescue of her mother-in-law.

The convict was demanding land rights from the deceased besides asking her to reside with the other son Mulakh Raj.

“The convict had also attempted to kill his wife when she intervened and tried to save the deceased from the brutal attacks of the convict. Had the wife stayed there or the sickle had not dropped from the hand of the convict, he would have definitely killed his wife also,” the judge said.

“This case falls within the ambit of rarest of rare cases and therefore, accused Jeet Singh does not deserve any leniency in the sentences to be awarded to him except sending the convict to gallows would be adequate”, the judge said.

Besides the death sentence, the court also sentenced Singh to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3,000 for attempt to murder, three years rigorous imprisonment of three years and fine of Rs 2,000 under Arms Act but said all the sentences shall run concurrently.