SC saves from gallows man who beheaded his mother

The Supreme Court today reduced to life imprisonment, the death sentence imposed on a man who beheaded his mother and walked away with her severed head as he was enraged over his wife leaving the matrimonial home following a reported tiff with the deceased mother-in-law.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar felt that since convict Absar Alam alias Afsar Alam was an illiterate and committed the offence in fit of rage, the doctrine of "rarest of rare" crime did not apply to the present case in Bihar, warranting capital punishment.

"The appellant was an illiterate rustic and was a cultivator residing in a village with virtually no control over his emotions and has over-reacted impulsively to the situation and has severed the neck of his mother.

"On these facts, the appellant is no doubt guilty of the offence under Section 302 IPC (murder), and has to suffer the punishment of imprisonment for life normally awarded for the offence, but should not be condemned to death," Justice Patnaik, writing the judgement, said.

According to prosecution, Alam, in the wee hours of February 2, 2007, killed his mother by cutting her neck and severing her head and, thereafter, fled from the house with the head of his mother leaving behind the body, as he was upset that his wife Sakerun Nisha left the home after a row with the deceased.

The trial court in Bihar held that Alam committed the murder of his mother in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical and revolting manner and, hence, it was one of those rarest of the rare cases calling for a death sentence.

The Patna High Court concurred by taking a view that the crime was abhorrent, dastardly and diabolical in nature committed by the appellant on his own mother, and as such deserved death penalty.

Citing its earlier rulings in the Md. Gyasuddin Khan versus State of Bihar, the apex court said that the mental condition or state of mind of Alam is one of the factors that could be taken into account in considering the question of sentence.

"For the aforesaid reasons, we convert the sentence of death to one of life imprisonment for the offence under Section 302 IPC, committed by the appellant andallow the appeal in part," the bench added.