Death sentence of 82-year-old set aside

Chandigarh, July 29: Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside a death sentence awared to an 82 year-old woman of Moga district of Punjab.

Declining the murder reference from the district and sessions judge, Moga wherein old Harbans Kaur was awarded death sentence for having allegedly killed her daughter-in-law Harpreet Kaur by pouring kerosene oil, the division bench of Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and Baldev Singh treated it as a case under section 306 and not 302 IPC as had been done in the original case registered against the old woman.

It did not appear to be plausible for such an old woman to have burnt her daughter-in-law to death and it was a case of suicide, the bench observed yesterday while setting aside the death sentence handed down on April 4 this year for the incident that took place on March 4 last year.

The bench has sentenced Harbans Kaur to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5000.

UNI