Man gets life term for murdering live-in partner

A 44-year-old man has been awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court for murdering his live-in partner of 10 years as she was unable to conceive.
The court noted that convict Rajesh was "obsessed" with the idea of having a child and when victim Manju was unable to conceive, he believed that she was doing so deliberately.
"It is the convict himself who was a hostage of his own beliefs and there cannot be an excuse or justification for this act of violence on a helpless woman," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.
"The facts as they have unfolded sadden me immensely - a tragic end to a love relationship. The case in hand certainly does not fall within the category of rarest of rare or least even in category of rare case.

"Therefore, convict Rajesh is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and fine of Rs 10,000 for the offence under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC," the judge said.
The court also directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to take action against head constable Giri Raj as he did not pay attention to Manju's complaint that Rajesh used to beat her.

According to the prosecution, Rajesh and Manju were living at a rented accommodation in Sultanpuri here as live-in partners. They were together for the last 10-12 years and some differences cropped up as Manju could not conceive.
Rajesh wanted to have a child but Manju was unable to conceive and he felt that this was deliberate on her part.

On August 28 last year, a quarrel took place between the couple and Rajesh killed Manju by inflicting eight injuries on her vital parts with a kitchen knife.
On hearing the victim's cries, neighbours rushed towards their house where Rajesh told them that he had killed Manju, police said, adding that he did not run away from the spot.