08 January,2015 01:07 PM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
He was a heavy drinker and used to beat her; she had left him because of his habits, but he convinced her he would not give her any reason to complain and took her back to their house
The Dindoshi Sessions Court on Monday sentenced a vegetable vendor to life imprisonment for killing his wife. The judgment was given by special women's court Judge S K S Razvi.
The vendor was sentenced under Section 302 (Murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Navee Hasan Noor Hasan Khan, (29) and his wife Santoshi Khan, then 19 years old, had a love marriage and stayed near Mohiniya Masjid, Malwani, Malad. Soon after the wedding, Santoshi, who was a housewife, realised that Khan was a heavy drinker.
Police said that after drinking, Khan used to beat Santoshi and never gave money to run the house. Fed up of this, Santoshi went to her mother's place on December 24, 2010. Four days later on December 28 Khan went to Santoshi's house and said he would not beat her again and would give her no reason to complaint about his behavior.
On that condition Santoshi went back with him. Around 7:45 am the next day, Santoshi's mother got a call from one of the couple's neighbours, saying Khan had strangulated and killed Santoshi. Santoshi's mother went to the Malwani police station and registered a complaint. Public prosecutor Madhuri Mahajan who examined 11 witnesses said, "Khan used to often drink and beat his wife.
He also never gave her money that he used to earn for a living, he used it to pay for his drinking habit. Santoshi was fed up of this." Santoshi's mother told the court, "Just four months before the incident Khan had attacked Santoshi so badly that she hurt her hand and fainted. She was taken to Rajawadi hospital. That time, I was going to file a complaint against him but he promised he would never ever do that again and so we did not go to the police."
