Lucknow: The additional district and sessions court of Bulandshahr on Tuesday sentenced three men to life imprisonment for setting ablaze the widow of their elder brother over property. Additional district and sessions judge Manu Kalia also imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 on each of the convicts.
According to additional district government counsel (ADGC) Vijay Sharma, victim Aneesa was staying with her in-laws in Sikandrabad area of Bulandshahr at their ancestral house along with her three children — a daughter and two sons — after the demise of her husband in 2011. “Ever since her husband passed away, his brothers didn’t want her to have her share in the ancestral house, and hence they planned to kill her,” said Sharma.
On November 24, 2012, when Aneesa was sleeping in the house, along with her 13-year-old daughter Ayesha, her mother-in-law, Bano, and brothers-in-law Mohd Aleem (50), Mohd Aziz (46) and Mohd Kalam (37) poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. Ayesha unsuccessfully tried to douse the fire, and she also suffered serious burn injuries. Aneesa died before she could be rushed to hospital.
Following the incident, Aneesa’s brother, Rashid Khan, lodged a police complaint. An FIR was registered against her in-laws under relevant sections of IPC, including 302 (murder) and 452 (house trespass). The UP CB-CID investigated the matter, and based on the chargesheet filed in 2016, all four persons named in the FIR were arrested, said ADGC Sharma. Bano had died before the trial began.
