INDIA: WOMAN AWARDED DEATH PENALTY FOR STABBING MOTHER-IN-LAW 90 TIMES

June 19, 2024:

A local court in Madhya Pradesh has awarded the death sentence to a 24-year-old woman for attacking her mother-in-law with an iron pan and then striking her with a sickle ninety times, killing her instantly, in 2022.
Rewa’s additional district and sessions judge Padma Jatav convicted Kanchan Kol, a resident of Atraila village in the district, for killing her 51-year-old mother-in-law Saroj, public prosecutor Vikas Dwivedi said on June 11, 2024.
While announcing the sentence on June 10, Jatav noted that the fingerprints of the accused linked her to the murder weapon, and cited the autopsy report that listed multiple wounds inflicted in the “brutal murder”, Dwivedi said.
On July 11, 2022, Kanchan and Saroj reportedly argued over the younger woman stepping out of the house, Dwivedi said citing the police charge sheet.
“Saroj used to object to Kanchan leaving home or talking to other villagers. A few days later, Kanchan first attacked Saroj with an iron pan. When Saroj fell, Kanchan started hitting her with a sickle,” he said.
When the neighbours heard commotion, they rushed to their house and knocked on the door to no response, Dwivedi said, adding that “the neighbours then broke the door and found Kanchan hitting Saroj brutally with sickle. They overpowered her and informed the police”. Saroj was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared her dead.
During her interrogation, Kanchan confessed to the crime. She told the police that Saroj used to harass her in the absence of her husband Ravi Shankar Kol, who works in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, as a daily wager. The harassment, Kanchan alleged, increased after the birth of her child in January 2022.
But, she also implicated her father-in-law, Balmiki Kol, alleging that the 54-year-old wanted his wife out of the way so he could marry another woman, and gave Kanchan ₹4,000 to commit the murder and provided her with the sickle used for the crime.
“Kanchan said Balmiki incited her to commit the murder by giving ₹4000 and a sickle as Saroj used to harass her which was increased a lot after birth of her baby.
Saroj had imposed many restrictions on Kanchan,” Manisha Updhyaya, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Mangwana, who probed the case, said.
Balmiki, who was arrested as an accomplice and conspirator in the murder, has been cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence, said Dwivedi.
At the time of the incident, while Balmiki was visiting a relative in Satna, Ravi Shankar was in Meerut.
Kanchan was arrested from the scene of the crime on July 14, 2022, and charged under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
She has been lodged in Rewa Jail since then.
Her child, now two and a half years old, is also in the jail with her.
To establish the charges, the police recorded statements of 16 witnesses who saw Kanchan attacking Saroj with the sickle, Kanchan wearing a blood-stained saree, and 25 pieces of evidence.