A district court in Mizoram on Thursday sentenced a 39-year-old woman to life imprisonment for killing her husband.
Additional district and session judge of Aizawl judicial district HTC Lalrinchhana convicted Mary Zothansangi, a resident of Kulikawn in Aizawl and sentenced her under two charges to undergo 5 months imprisonment to be followed by lifetime imprisonment for killing her husband with a knife on December 9 last year.
The woman was charged under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder) and section 6 (2) r/w 5 (2) of Mizoram Liquor Prohibition (MLP) Act, 2019.
The district court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh against the convict under section 302 IPC failing which she would undergo additional one-year imprisonment.
Under the MLP Act, the convict was sentenced to undergo five months imprisonment with a fine of Rs 4,000 for consuming liquor without licence at the time of occurrence of the crime.
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She will undergo another two months’ imprisonment if she fails to pay Rs 4,000.
“Since separate and distinct transaction of two offences and viewing the brutality of the incident, sentences are directed to run consecutively,” the court order said.
The convict, Mary Zothansangi, will first undergo sentence (five months imprisonment and Rs 4,000 fine) inflicted under the MLP Act before undergoing life imprisonment under section 302 of IPC , it said.
However, the period of detention of the offender which she has already undergone (if any) during investigation or trial shall be set off as enjoined by section 428 of Criminal Procedure Code, it said.
Despite the crime committed by the convict is very peculiar, death sentence is not suitable to inflict for her reformation and revitalization in terms of social, spiritual, emotion and philanthropy as she is a woman and young age of about 39 years old, the court order also said.
Mary Zothansangi was arrested in December last year after she murdered her husband Laltanpuia, who was a doctor by profession, in their bedroom.
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The heinous incident occurred on the night of December 9 when the husband-wife had a dispute over-selling of their plantations.
In a fit of rage, Zothansangi, who was under some alcoholic influence and armed with a knife, stabbed her husband to death.
The duo has three children.
Meanwhile, the district court also asked the state government to give compensation to the legal heirs (three minor children) of the deceased victim as per the procedure laid down in the Mizoram Victims of Crime Compensation Scheme, 2011.