70-Year-Old Widow Who Killed Daughter's Rapist Gets Life Imprisonment

A 70-year-old widow who killed the man who allegedly tried to rape her daughter has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The judgment comes nearly 11 years after the deadly incident.

The accused, Kasturi Devi, a resident of Meerut in India’s Uttar Pradesh was found guilty of fatally stabbing the alleged rapist, Praveen Kumar with an ax during the deadly incident that happened on July 31, 2010.

On Oct. 14, Bulandshahr’s additional sessions court’s judge Rajeshwar Shukla sentenced the woman to life imprisonment concluding the act was “honor killing” and a “planned murder”.

During the sentencing, the judge said the accused “didn’t have to hit the deceased multiple times with an ax to stop the rape bid as even small force could have been deployed”.

According to court records obtained by the Times of India, Kasturi who was 59 at that time, had approached the Anoopshahr police station in Bulandshahr and confessed to the murder.

She told the police that Praveen, who was in his 20’s at that time, came to her home at midnight and grabbed her daughter “P” (as mentioned by the court), who was also 20 then.

“On seeing her daughter being sexually assaulted, Kasturi picked an ax lying in the corner of the terrace and hit the deceased causing his death,” the court order said.

Kasturi’s son and daughter, who witnessed the crime had maintained it was a rape bid and that their mother killed the deceased to save the victim from being raped.

An autopsy of the deceased man revealed that he had suffered ‘five grievous injuries’, all above his neck.

“Praveen was hit five times near his neck, which caused his immediate death. (If) Kasturi had to stop the rape bid, she didn’t have to hit the deceased so many times as even (a) small force ...could have averted the incident. As the family took the body outside the house and shouted for help after Praveen died, it looks like a planned conspiracy,” the court stated.

In the intervening time of the 11-year court proceedings, the victim got married and had children, records stated.