Participating in Operation Sindoor doesn't give you immunity from committing atrocity at home, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said while refusing to exempt a convict from surrendering in a dowry death case of his wife.
A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and K Vinod Chandran made the observation while hearing an appeal filed against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which dismissed the man's appeal and upheld his sentence.
The top court initially expressed disinclination to grant exemption to the man.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the man was a participant of Operation Sindoor.
"For the past 20 years I am a black cat commando posted in Rashtriya Rifles,
he said.
The bench then remarked,"That doesn't give you immunity from committing atrocity at home. This goes to show how physically fit you are, and the manner in which alone you could have killed your wife, strangulated your wife."
Observing that the petitioner was convicted for a serious offence, the bench felt it wasn't a fit case to grant him exemption.
The top court, however, issued notice in the matter and sought the reply of respondents in six weeks.
A trial court in Amritsar on July 2004 had convicted petitioner Baljinder Singh under Section 304-B (dowry death) of IPC for the death of his wife within two years of marriage.
The police alleged the woman was subjected to harassment and cruelty in her matrimonial home for dowry.