High Court upholds life term for man convicted of strangling four people

The Story in Brief

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on July 27 upheld the life sentence of Vinay Pratap Singh alias Bablu, who was convicted for the deaths of his live-in partner Babita, her mother Nandrani and Babita’s two minor children in Hardoi in June 2009. A division bench of Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary dismissed Bablu’s appeal and affirmed the 2014 trial court conviction under IPC Sections 302, 307 and 404 and Section 3(2)(5) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The prosecution said Babita, an anganwadi worker, had been living at her mother’s house after her husband’s death and that Bablu had been in a live-in relationship with her for about one and a half years. On the morning of June 24, 2009 the four were found dead with nooses; post-mortems recorded ante-mortem ligature strangulation. The high court found the prosecution case proved beyond doubt and saw no perversity or illegality in the conviction or sentence.

The Indian Opinion

Coverage of this case can quickly become emotive because of the victims and the manner of death; some reports or commentary may emphasise horror or moral judgement. The high court’s order, however, shows the matter was considered on appeal: the bench reviewed oral, documentary and medical evidence and rejected the appellant’s challenges that the case rested only on circumstantial proof, that the “last seen” theory and recoveries were doubtful, and that the FIR followed a property dispute. Where public commentary stresses certainty or sensational details, an ordinary reader should note that the court affirmed the trial court’s findings after legal scrutiny and that factual disputes were litigated in court.

Original article: HC upholds life term for man who strangled live-in partner, her mother, two minor children in 2009 (Hindustan Times)

This story was summarised and commented on by AI from the source linked above.