Wives pay the price for UP MLAs' crime

Yet, many of them find themselves on the wrong side of the law only because they tried to save their husbands from going to jail.

The recent sentencing of BSP legislator Shekhar Tewari’s wife Vibha Tewari by a Lucknow district court on the charges of destroying evidence of a murder committed by her husband only underscores the dilemma of these wives, who were “possibly” unwillingly caught in the web of their husbands’ criminal deeds.

Vibha tried to save Shekhar Tewari, who had brutally beaten to death a PWD engineer, Manoj Kumar Gupta, after he refused to cough up money for Chief Minister Mayawati’s birthday bash. Immediately after the engineer was murdered, Vibha rushed to the scene and got the floors cleaned of any blood stains to prove that nothing had happened there.

She also spoke to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Dibiyapur Hoshiar Singh, who was also, along with Shekhar Tewari, sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, to find out what could be done to save her husband.

The court in fact adjudged that her efforts clearly indicated that she had tried to destroy the evidence.

Madhumani Tripathi, the wife of Amarmani Tripathi, was also sentenced to life imprisonment for killing poetess Madhumita Shukla, Amarmani’s mistress. Madhumani had tried to keep the poetess away from her husband.

Madhumita was pregnant and Madhumani suspected that the poetess could claim a share in the MLA’s property. Therefore, Amarmani’s wife joined the conspiracy to eliminate Madhumita, prosecutors claimed in the court. Now, both husband and wife are in jail.

Samajwadi Party MLA Anoop Sanda’s wife, Amita Seth, also landed in trouble after she in an attempt to keep her husband away from his alleged lover, threatened the latter and allegedly thrashed her on several occasions. The MLA’s wife is facing charges of assault and issuing threats.