HC overturns man's conviction for wife's murder

Observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case, the Bombay High Court has acquitted a 25-year-old man of the charge of murdering his wife.
The division bench of Justices Vijaya Tahilramani and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi last week set aside the life sentence awarded to Vishnu Kshirsagar, a resident of Osmanabad, for murdering his wife Manisha in 2006, a year after their marriage.
"The prosecution has not succeeded in proving a single incriminating circumstance against the appellant," said the bench.
"None of the circumstances, individually or cumulatively, are sufficient to prove the guilt of the appellant," it said.
According to the prosecution, Kshirsagar ill-treated his wife because she didn't cook well. It cited the testimonies of her father and brother.

However, the HC noted that both had disclosed the alleged ill-treatment for the first time in the trial court and there was no mention of it in their police statements.

The prosecution had also alleged that the couple went missing a year after their marriage. On a complaint lodged by the woman's brother and father, Kshirsagar was traced and he led the police to her body buried in a forest.
However, the prosecution "miserably failed to prove" that the woman had been murdered, the HC said.
The judges also did not believe the evidence regarding recovery of gold ornaments belonging to the deceased at the instance of accused. The prosecution did not examine witnesses to prove that they belonged to the victim, they said.