Man, wife get six years jail for setting ablaze niece

A man and his wife have been sent to jail for six years by a Delhi court for attempting to kill their niece by setting her on fire over some financial dispute.
The court awarded the imprisonment to Radhey Shyam and Kamlesh, saying they committed the offence at a public place and the mode and manner of the crime was "detrimental to societal peace".
"The aggravating circumstances are that the convicts had committed the offence by causing burn injuries on vital parts of the complainant which had left the burn scars also, at a public place in the night time. The mode and manner of the crime was detrimental to societal peace," Additional Sessions Judge Pankaj Gupta said.

The court also said it can be held that the couple had an intention to commit the said acts and for that they obstructed the way of the victim, who was returning home with her husband and six-month-old baby.
"While committing the said acts, they knew that the act was so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death or such bodily injuries as was likely to cause death and committed that act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such bodily injuries," it said.
The court also refused to release on probation Kamlesh, maternal aunt of victim Rachna, keeping in view gravity of offence. It imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on both the convicts, residents of Mangolpuri in north west Delhi.

As per the prosecution, on the night of March 1, 2014, the victim along with her husband and infant was going towards her home and on reaching near a church in Mangolpuri, Shyam and Kamlesh, her maternal uncle and aunt, came towards her.

Shyam poured a kerosene bottle upon her while his wife set the victim on fire and they both ran away, police said, adding that Rachna's husband tried to douse off the blaze and took her to hospital.
The victim had told the police there was some financial dispute between Kamlesh and one Satyawati and when Rachna tried to resolve, the accused became inimical towards her.

During the trial, the couple claimed they were innocent and falsely implicated in the case by the woman and her husband. They claimed that they were not present at the crime spot at that time.
The court said they has failed to prove any conspiracy between the victim and her husband and prosecution has shown the motive as to why the accused indulged in the act.
The court noted in the judgement that burn scars were visible on the woman's body when she had come before it for her deposition.