Nashik honour killing: HC upholds death penalty for man who killed pregnant daughter

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction and death penalty given to a 38-year-old man by a Nashik court in northern Maharashtra in a case of honour killing.

A bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi upheld the death penalty given to Eknath Kumbharkar, convicted for killing his 18-year-old pregnant daughter in 2013, because she had married outside their caste.

A sessions court in Nashik had convicted Kumbharkar and given him the death sentence in June 2017. Following this, the Maharashtra government had approached the HC seeking that the death penalty be confirmed as per procedure to pave way for its execution.

In its verdict pronounced on Tuesday, the HC bench said there was adequate evidence, including the medical and forensic evidence on record, to prove that Kumbharkar strangled his daughter to death because he was unhappy with her inter-caste marriage.

The victim was nine months pregnant at the time time of her death.

The bench took note of the ...