Ex-army personnel gets life term for killing son

A retired army man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for killing his son when he was asked not to fight with victim's mother. Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta handed down the jail term to 66-year-old Shish Ram for killing his son, holding that the deceased was only pursuing his father not to quarrel, but the convict shot him dead with his gun in a 'cruel and unusual manner'.

"From the evidence of prosecution witnesses (the accused wife and minor grand son), it is proved that the deceased was only pursuing the accused (Ram) not to quarrel and that there was no threat to him from the deceased.

"On the other hand, Ram shot the deceased with his gun in a close range in his chest, acting in a cruel and unusual manner," the court said and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict.

Ram was arrested on April 6, 2009 by Nihal Vihar police on the complaint of victim Purshotam's wife, who alleged that her husband was shot dead by her father-in-law.

The complainant had told the police that after her marriage, she along with her husband and in-laws were living together as a joint family in west Delhi.

She said on the fateful day, Ram had picked up a fight in an inebriated state with his wife (the victim's mother) for not cooking meals properly and proceeded to use filthy language against her, when her husband objected and asked him to keep quiet.

Ram, however, became more violent and went into his room, brought his gun and fired upon her husband, she told the police and later the court.