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Engineer Gets Life for Sister's Murder
24 Sep
Summary
- Engineer convicted of throttling his sister to death.
- Depression defense rejected by the court in murder trial.
- Convict also attempted suicide after the fatal incident.
A Pune sessions court has handed down a life sentence to an engineer for the murder of his 23-year-old sister. The fatal incident occurred in their rented Bavdhan flat in the early hours of April 14, 2010. The court dismissed the defense's argument that severe depression constituted legal insanity.
The convicted engineer, Subhojit Basu, also attempted to take his own life by slashing his wrists and consuming phenyl following the murder. He had returned from the USA shortly before the incident and was reportedly facing unemployment despite his qualifications. Medical evidence, including a high Hamilton Depression Ratings Scale score, was presented, but a psychiatrist confirmed no features of insanity were present.
The prosecution presented nine witnesses, including Basu's former IIT professor, to establish guilt. The court found that while the accused had no prior criminal record, the evidence clearly indicated he was responsible for his sister's homicidal death, thus rejecting pleas to reduce the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
