A gruesome crime, a letter with blood, a battle for justice: Indian man jailed for life for burning wife alive

After six years, a man was given life imprisonment by an Indian local court for setting his wife Anu on fire for “not bearing a son”. A court official said on Friday (July 29) that Manoj Bansal, a resident of Kothiyat locality of Bulandshahr city, had burnt his wife alive. It was claimed that he did it because Anu could not bear a son.

Advocate Sanjay Sharma said, “Hearing the case on Wednesday, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge sentenced Manoj Bansal to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife.”

Anu’s two daughters, Latika and Tanya, who are also the eyewitnesses, saw their mother burning alive in front of them. They had filed a complaint against their father and fought a long court battle to get justice for their mother.

Latika, who is now 21-year-old and her younger sister said to the court that their father used to beat up their mother for “not giving birth to a son”.

Latika and Tanya alleged in their testimony that their father Manoj set their mother on fire by pouring kerosene oil on her and . The incident happened in front of their eyes on June 14, 2016. Manoj had allegedly fled from there.

Reports said that Anu was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital in India's capital, New Delhi. She was in critical condition and eventually succumbed on June 20. At that time, Latika was 15 and Tanya was 11 years old.

A letter written with blood

To raise her voice against this horrible incident, Latika wrote a letter with her blood to the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. She wrote that she and her sister were being threatened by their relatives and pleaded for justice.

The advocate said that following the letter, Akhilesh met the two girls and also their maternal uncle and maternal grandmother.

The CM heard their ordeal and assured them that the accused would be punished.

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