Mumbai: Father kills son for refusing to address his second wife as 'mother'

A Sessions Court convicted a man and sentenced him to life imprisonment on the charge of murdering his son because he refused to call his second wife, mother. Additional Sessions Judge SD Tawshikar convicted the accused Salim Shaikh of murdering the child. While sentencing him to life imprisonment, the court also noted that the police had succeeded in proving that the accused killed the boy and that he was the mastermind of the murder.

It was Shaikh's first wife who filed a complaint against him for the murder of his son. According to her complaint, the accused asked son Imran to refer to his second wife as mother. Well, after Imran refused, they both got into an argument. From that, the accused started beating Imran. After realising that the dispute was going to extremes, the complainant woman rushed to the police station. However, by the time the police brought him home, the accused had stabbed the boy with scissors and seriously injured him. The police rushed Imran to the hospital. However, he was declared dead.

However, it was argued by the accused that Imran was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident and committed suicide by injuring himself with a sharp weapon. However, the court rejected his defense. Also, if the child had committed suicide, the complainant would not have gone to the police for help. Also, the accused could have taken the injured child to the hospital without running away, the court said. The court took into consideration the fact that other witnesses had also stated that there was an argument between the accused and the boy while convicting Shaikh of the charges against him.

Meanwhile, the government party had demanded the death sentence to the accused saying that this case is a rare case. However, while it is fair to say that causing the killing of one's own child is a rare case, the court clarified that this case does not fall into the rarest of rare category. Also, rejecting the demand of the government party, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment.