Ex-fireman Sets Wife On Fire After Dowry Torture in Mumbai; Court Awards Him Life Imprisonment

The accused was arrested a day after the incident and has been in judicial custody since then.

Mumbai: A sessions court in Mumbai awarded rigorous imprisonment for life to a man for setting his wife on fire after harassing her for dowry in suburban Mulund six years ago.

Identified as Lakhan Gaikwad, the 33-year-old former fireman had in October 2017 set his on fire by pouring thinner on her and killed her. However, Gaikwad was arrested a day after the incident and has been in judicial custody since then.

During the hearing of the case, additional sessions judge A B Sharma found the accused guilty of offences committed under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code for murder and subjecting his wife to cruelty.

According to the prosecution, led by special public prosecutor Geeta Sharma, Gaikwad had physically and mentally harassed his wife Manisha.

In her testimony, the victim’s mother had informed the court that at the time of marriage, the accused had demanded Rs 1 lakh as dowry, which she could not pay.

Since then, Gaikwad and his family started torturing Manisha and they also starved the victim and were not providing her with clothes, she said.

The court has acquitted four other accused in the case, including the victim’s in-laws, for want of evidence. And the accused was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 7,000 was imposed on him.