Nashik : The district and sessions court in Nashik sentenced a 60-year-old woman to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for causing grievous hurt, wrongful restraint and outraging the modesty of another woman in 2014.
The incident took place in a village under the jurisdiction of the Nashik taluka police station and stemmed from a dispute over ancestral property. The victim, the wife of an estranged farmer, was tied to an electricity pole, stripped and severely injured by her husband, Shivaji Gaikar, and another woman, Seetabai Gaikar, with whom he was in a relationship. A case of outraging modesty, attempt to murder, and causing hurt was registered with the Nashik taluka police station. The case was heard before district and sessions judge N L More.
The victim and Shivaji had been living separately for more than 28 years. On Feb 17, 2014, Shivaji and Seetabai picked up an argument with the victim, demanding that she withdraw her claim in the court over her husband’s property.
Additional public prosecutor Sulbha Sangle said Shivaji had died before the hearing began. However, she had been fighting for her share of her husband’s ancestral property, a matter that was also pending in court. As the argument escalated, the two accused stripped off her saree, tied her to an electricity pole in the village with the same saree, and assaulted her in an attempt to kill her. During the course of the trial, judge More, after examining the statements of the complainant and witnesses along with the circumstantial evidence submitted by the investigating officer, found Shivaji and Seetabai guilty of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, wrongful confinement, and outraging modesty. Seetabai was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for outraging the victim’s modesty, two years for voluntarily causing grievous hurt and one month for wrongful restraint. The attempt-to-murder charge was not proved. All sentences will run concurrently.