UP court awards death to man for murdering lover, her son

Agra: A Muzaffarnagar court on Saturday sentenced a 44-year-old man to death for murdering his lover and her six-year-old son on the day of Bakrid in 2011. The court imposed a Rs 5 lakh fine on the convict, Zahoor Hasan, a Bareilly resident, who used to work as a daily-wager in Muzaffarnagar.Additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Kuldeep Kumar said Hasan was involved in an affair with Rajesh Devi, 25, a married woman who was a daily-wager and worked at the same site with him. When the woman expressed her desire to live with him, the latter planned to end the relationship by eliminating her.On Nov 7, 2011, the woman reached Salempur village in Charthawal with her son on Hasan’s request. They later had a heated argument -- on their relationship -- near a sugarcane field. Hasan then strangled her and repeatedly struck her with a brick. He also hit the child with the same brick, till he died. Their bodies were recovered from a farm, and its owner informed the cops, following which, police registered an FIR and launched an investigation.Hasan was identified by police and slapped with IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), among others. A chargesheet was submitted in court weeks later.The ADGC added: “Additional district and sessions judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, while awarding the death sentence, stated that the convict had committed an exceptionally brutal crime. The court held that such acts strike at the conscience of society and warrant the severest of punishments to uphold justice and protect innocent lives... It was also a mere coincidence that the crime took place on the day of Bakrid; and it had nothing to do with the festival.”Awarding the death sentence, the court observed: “Human life is a beautiful thing bestowed upon by God, and hence, all individuals have an equal right to live. Life is given by God, and only God can take it. If a person takes the life of another, they also have no right to live.”