9-year-old girl's testimony sends doctor father to jail for mother's murder in Bareilly

BAREILLY: Relying on the testimony of a nine-year-old girl, a court in UP's Bareilly awarded life imprisonment to her father, who is a doctor, for murdering his second wife with help of his two aides in 2021. The minor girl was witness to her mother's killing.

The accused doctor, Iqbal Ahmad, who runs a clinic in Bareilly, had married Nisha Devi, a resident of Saharanpur, in 2012. The couple had two daughters.

On October 26, 2021, Nisha was found dead in their house and the doctor was missing. Police took the body to a local hospital.

Nisha's mother, Kaushal Devi, was later told by the minor girl that her mother was killed by her father. The autopsy report corroborated her statement as it was established that Nisha was "strangled to death".

Divulging the details of the case, additional district government counsel (ADGC), Sachin Jaiswal told TOI, "As per the files, Nisha and Iqbal had a love marriage after the latter introduced himself as 'Dr Raju Sharma'. The wedding was solemnised in Saharanpur as per Hindu rituals. The couple then started staying in Saharanpur. Nisha came to know about her husband's identity when they moved to Meerganj in Bareilly. 'Raju' was actually Iqbal and he was already married. The accused then started putting pressure on her to embrace his faith, to which she refused. Later she was found murdered."

The ADGC added, "An FIR was registered under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) along with Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act against Iqbal and unidentified persons on the complaint of Nisha's mother on October 28, 2021."

"He was arrested three months later. During investigation, police found that he killed Nisha with the help of his brother-in-law Mohd Yaseen and aide Misaryar Khan alias Mishra," Jaiswal said.

Police filed a chargesheet in April 2022 against the three accused, and sections under the anti-conversion Act were dropped since the marriage was solemnised before the Act came into force. Jaiswal said, "The statement of the nine-year-old daughter, who studies in class III, played a pivotal role in nailing the accused. She told the court that her mother was watching TV when her father and two men killed her. Seeing the heinous nature of the crime, we argued for death penalty... The case was heard before the court of additional district and sessions judge Tabrez Ahmed, who found all three guilty under IPC sections 302 and 34."


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