Allahabad High Court Commutes British Wife’s Death Sentence To Life In NRI Husband’s Murder

The Allahabad High Court commuted the death sentence of British wife Ramandeep to life imprisonment in Sukhpreet’s murder case.

The court also upheld life imprisonment for her alleged lover, Gurpreet, rejecting arguments challenging the lower court’s conviction findings.

A bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Madan Pal Singh declared the case unfit for capital punishment. The court said awarding death relied on imaginary considerations, inconsistent with logic, and outside of legally accepted reasoning for the rarest category.

It ruled references to mythical or imaginary factors revealed possible bias, inappropriate in assessing the death penalty’s rarest of rare threshold.

Sukhjeet, an NRI driver in England, married British citizen Ramandeep in 2005 and returned to India in 2016.

Prosecution said Ramandeep and Gurpreet murdered Sukhjeet in Shahjahanpur on September 2, 2016, with his son providing crucial testimony.

The nine-year-old testified that his mother smothered Sukhjeet with a pillow, while Gurpreet struck him twice with a hammer. He further testified that his mother ordered Gurpreet to finish him, after which Gurpreet slit his throat with a knife.

The Sessions Court accepted this testimony, sentencing Ramandeep to death and Gurpreet to life, holding both guilty of heinous murder.

The defence claimed the boy testified under his aunt’s influence, noting his Skype statement came seven months after the incident.

However, the High Court found his testimony credible, supported by corroborating evidence, emphasising that children’s statements cannot automatically be doubted.

The court held Ramandeep’s death sentence disproportionate, commuting it to life imprisonment, while maintaining Gurpreet’s punishment of rigorous life imprisonment.

Both accused will complete their terms in jail, as the High Court partially allowed one appeal and rejected another.

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