Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Indian Mother-in-Law

 

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

8

Year Crime:

1991

Year Convicted:

2000

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

India

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"A father-in-law, and his wife and daughter were wrongly convicted in 2000 of murder, subjecting a married woman to cruelty, and common intention, in the death of his daughter-in-law from burns on November 13, 1991. The woman married the son in the family in 2000. Their prosecution was based on two dying declarations by the woman recorded in the hospital. In the first dying declaration she said her clothes caught fire while she was cooking, and in her second statement she alleged the parents and sister of her husband set her ablaze. After their conviction by a bench of two judges, the three were sentenced to life in prison. They were released in 2001 pending the outcome of their appeal. In December 2016 the Delhi High Court quashed the conviction of all three defendants based on the prosecution's failure to present sufficient evidence to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The High Court bench of Justices Gita Mittal and Anu Malhotra noted that the statements made by the deceased woman were contradictory. The Court stated: "A careful scrutiny of the record would show that, other than statements attributed to the deceased, the prosecution has failed to lead any independent evidence to corroborate the statements attributed to the deceased alleging commission of the offence. The evidence is to the contrary." The mother-in-law's exoneration was posthumous, because she died March 2003."

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"In December 2016 the Delhi High Court quashed the conviction of all three defendants based on the prosecution's failure to present sufficient evidence to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The mother-in-law's exoneration was posthumous, because she died March 2003."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Indian

Information Source 1:

"HC sets aside life term of in-laws in 25-yr-old murder case, By Press Trust of India, Business Standard (New Delhi), December 4, 2016"

Information Location 1:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/hc-sets-aside-life-term-of-in-laws-in-25-yr-old-murder-case-116120400144_1.html

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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