Mumbai: The sessions court has sentenced a 44-year-old man to ten years of imprisonment for attacking his estranged wife with a sickle, intending to kill her out of suspicion, while she was buying vegetables in January 2020.
As per the prosecution’s case, the complainant, Mansi Reshim, claimed that she married the accused, Manoj Reshim, nine years before the incident. They also have a son who was eight years old at the time of the attack.
Mansi stated that after their marriage, Manoj became addicted to alcohol and remained unemployed, resulting in severe financial difficulties for the family. She claimed that due to these financial struggles, frequent quarrels occurred between her and the accused.
Mansi further stated that a year before the incident, she separated from the accused out of frustration and moved away with her son. She started working as a house help in a home at Bora Bazar, Fort. Since she had been living apart from her husband for about a year, Manoj began suspecting her character.
He allegedly followed her wherever she went, frequently quarreled with her, threatened to kill her, and physically assaulted her. While she worked in the Fort area, Manoj would wander around in an inebriated state, chasing and abusing her.
On January 29, 2020, after finishing work, while she was buying vegetables, the accused approached her and took a sickle out of his bag. Before Mansi could react, Manoj attacked her, declaring that he would not let her live. Mansi tried to defend herself, but Manoj continued to assault her. Hearing her screams, bystanders intervened, restrained Manoj, and handed him over to the police, while Mansi was rushed to the hospital.
During the trial, public prosecutor Sureeta Singh presented nine witnesses, including the victim (Mansi), medical experts, witnesses related to CCTV footage showing the attack, and members of the investigative team.
The court, after reviewing the evidence, held, “The incident cannot be said to have happened in the heat of the moment. The intention of the accused seems to have been to kill the injured with premeditation, using a sickle. Furthermore, the accused was aware of the consequences of his actions, which would have resulted in the victim’s death if she had not resisted the attack by using her hands to defend herself. The nature of the injury is irrelevant.”
