Man gets life imprisonment for murdering brother

A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his brother by a Delhi court which relied on the testimony of his eight-year-old son who had witnessed the crime.
The court also held Uttar Pradesh resident Noor Mohammed and his wife Afsana guilty of disposing of the murder weapon to shield themselves from punishment.
The court awarded life term to Noor for murdering his brother Sharayar Khan and gave five years imprisonment to Afsana.
"The mitigating factor as pointed out by the defence counsel is that both convicts Noor Mohammed and Afsana have no previous criminal involvement and have a family comprising small children and there was no premeditation or pre-planning for the offence.

"The aggravating factors are that the deceased Sharayar had been killed in cold blood in a brutal manner without any justification....," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.
Giving credence to the testimony of Noor's son, who was an eyewitness to the incident, the court observed that he was a "competent witness".

He told the court that his mother had given a knife to his father, who stabbed his uncle after tying his hands and legs and thereafter the couple kept the body in a box.
According to the prosecution, Noor was staying with his family in a rented house in Pitampura and on the night of August 1, last year, he murdered his brother. His wife helped him conceal the body and blood stained mattress in two different boxes.

On hearing some noise, Noor's landlord had gone to his house but Afsana sent him back saying the kids were making the noise. The next morning, the neighbours found Noor's house locked.
When a foul smell started emanating from the house after two days, neighbours informed the police and on opening it, they discovered Khan's body in one box and the blood stained mattress in another. The couple was then arrested from Ghonda area in northeast Delhi.
Both the convicts had sought leniency, saying there was no one else to take care of their two kids.