Thane court sentences man to 10 years' RI for stabbing estranged wife

THANE: A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a 32-year-old autorickshaw driver to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for attempting to murder his wife and stabbing a man who tried to save her.

Additional sessions judge V L Bhosale on Thursday convicted Nazim Daud Khan under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code for the 2021 knife attack that left his estranged wife with 40 per cent permanent disability in both hands.

According to the prosecution, the accused married the victim, Rubina, in 2016, and the couple had two sons. Khan was addicted to ganja and physically abused his wife, causing her to live with her parents eight months before the brutal attack.

On November 29, 2021, the accused visited his in-laws' mattress workshop and demanded that his wife return home. Upon her refusal, he left, only to return half an hour later to attack his wife with a knife.

The prosecution stated that the accused chased the victim, sat on her chest, and stabbed her repeatedly, and when Mohammad Isak, a worker who was in the vicinity, intervened, he too was stabbed.

Passersby eventually overpowered the assailant, and the victim was rushed to a hospital.

The victim suffered 40 per cent permanent disability of both hands due to multiple cut wounds, they said.

The court noted that intent behind the attack was gathered from the nature of the weapon, the part of the body targeted, the number and force of the blows, the manner of the attack and the surrounding circumstances.

The court sentenced Khan to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 20,000, under section 307 of the IPC, and to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment, with a fine of Rs 10,000, under section 324. Both sentences will run concurrently.

Out of the recovered fine, the court directed that Rs 20,000 be paid as compensation to the victim and Rs 5,000 to the eyewitness. The court also recommended the matter to the District Legal Services Authority, Thane, for additional compensation under the Maharashtra Victim Compensation Scheme.