India

Delhi Court Sentences Man to Life for Killing Wife and Daughter with Iron Rod

By Arnabjit Sur

A Delhi court has sentenced a 51-year-old man, Nand Kishore, to life imprisonment for murdering his wife and daughter in a brutal attack at their South Delhi home in 2018. Additional Sessions Judge Samar Vishal of the Saket courts delivered the sentence on Monday, nearly eight years after the incident, describing the violence as "exceptionally serious."

Kishore, who worked as a cycle and rickshaw repairer, attacked his wife Vidyawati and daughters with an iron rod in the early hours of August 28, 2018, at their residence in Sangam Vihar. His daughter Kavita, around 22 years old, was declared dead on arrival at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, while Vidyawati died later during treatment. Another daughter, Suman, survived the assault but suffered severe head injuries, including a skull fracture, and has remained bedridden since.

Prosecutors, represented by additional public prosecutor Arun Kumar Singh, said Kishore was under financial stress due to his inability to arrange marriages for his daughters. The court noted that the attack constituted an aggravated offense because the victims were his own wife and daughters, who would normally have looked to him for protection.

In its August 31 judgment convicting Kishore, the court cited testimony from his sons, Rahul and Mohit, who were present in the house and confirmed that Kishore was in the room immediately after the assault, near the injured women. Medical evidence showed that both Vidyawati and Kavita died from severe head injuries caused by blunt force trauma, while Suman suffered a dangerous skull fracture with protrusion of brain matter.

The court also pointed to a bloodstained iron rod recovered from the scene, which carried DNA from both deceased women. Witnesses reportedly saw the weapon in Kishore's hand shortly after cries were heard from the room. Although no blood was found on Kishore's clothing and no fingerprints were recovered from the rod, the court ruled that this did not undermine the overall weight of evidence against him.

Kishore's defense argued that an unidentified burglar had entered through interconnected rooftops shared with neighboring houses, attacked the women, and fled after stealing Suman's mobile phone. The court dismissed this claim as unsubstantiated, noting there were no signs of forced entry, ransacking, or robbery, and no witnesses reported seeing a stranger enter or leave the premises. Additionally, none of Kishore's sons corroborated his account of confronting an intruder or hearing him raise an alarm.

The court concluded that once prosecutors established Kishore's presence at the scene with the weapon linked to the victims through DNA evidence, the burden fell on him to explain the circumstances—an explanation the court found lacked any supporting evidence.