Court grants bail to man accused of setting wife afire

Mumbai: Relying on the testimony of a plastic surgeon from JJ Hospital, the Bombay high court has granted bail to an accused who has been arrested for setting his wife on fire and killing her in 2014. According to the doctor, the burn injuries received by the accused were severe in nature and they could be received if the person made conscious efforts to save a person who had already caught fire.

The division bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Sarang Kotwal was hearing appeal filed by Jalandhar Chauhan challenging his conviction and also seeking bail pending hearing of the appeal. Chauhan was convicted for killing his wife Rita in 2014 at his house in Rabale.

Chauhan’s lawyer Anjali Patil had contended before the court that in March 2014, he was returning from common latrine near his house he noticed fire in his house. He ran towards the kitchen and found that his wife Rita was in flames. He put a quilt on her and tried to extinguish the fire and in the process received burn injuries on his hands, chest and the upper part of body.

Soon neighbours and his wife’s brothers, who used to stay nearby, reached there and started beating him. To save his own life, he boarded a local train at Mumbra railway station but was assaulted by his wife’s relatives, who chased him, in the train too.

While hearing Chau-han’s plea, the bench took into consideration testimony of a plastic surgeon at JJ Hospital where accused was admitted after his arrest.

The doctor in his statement said that the burn injuries received by the accused could be possible when a person makes sincere efforts to save somebody who has already caught fire.

Considering this statement and the fact that despite presence of several neighbours, the prosecution examined only relatives of dece-ased the court granted him bail on personal bond of '15,000 pending his appeal against his conviction.