Delhi High Court Finds Husband, Son Held Guilty Of Setting Woman Ablaze; Quotes Devotional Song On Purity Of Mother-Son Relationship

The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld the conviction of a husband and a son for murdering a woman by setting her on fire, holding that her dying declarations were consistent, voluntary and free from suspicion.

A division bench comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Vimal Kumar Yadav said that the woman had no reason to name her grown up son or husband to falsely implicate them, and had nothing to gain.

The Court dismissed the appeals filed by the husband and the son in 2002, upholding their conviction and sentence in the case.

In 2000, the woman was admitted to Safdarjung hospital by her daughter and son, in 100% burnt condition. In her first dying declaration, he told the doctors that her husband and son poured kerosene oil over her and set her ablaze.

Subsequently, the second dying declaration was recorded by the Investigating Officer, where again she blamed both her husband and son, asserting that they had set her on fire after pouring kerosene oil.

Both the husband and son pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed trial. They were found guilty and were convicted for the offence of murder. During the pendency of their appeal, the son absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender whereas the husband expired.

Upholding their conviction, the Bench said that the bond between the mother and children is so strong, pure and aboveboard that there is no scope for any sort of selfishness.

“There is a famous line in a song which goes as under that “Poot kapoot sune hai par na maata sunee kumaata”. If something adverse happens to the mother involving her son, then there must be a very drastic reason behind it. If that incident happens to be the death or homicide of the mother, with allegations of the son's involvement, apart from that of the husband, one can easily imagine how serious the reason must be,” the Court said.

“It would have to be something truly grave and devastating, where allegations of murder and destroying evidence are levelled against the son and the husband,” it added.

Dismissing the appeals, the Court concluded that there were no traces suggesting that the fire was accidental or that the deceased committed suicide.

“As such the dying declaration, being above board, free from any taint like undue influence, fabrication, pressure, inducement or for any temporal gain, being acceptable leaves no room for the appellants to scrape through the conclusion that they were responsible to set Gian Kaur on fire resulting in to her death, which was neither suicidal nor accidental,” the Court said.

Title: DIDAR SINGH & ANR v. STATE (GOVT.OF NCT OF DELHI)

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1505

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