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In Feb 1980 Laxman Kumar married 20 year old Sudha Goel and lived in a flat in
nd
Delhi with Laxman’s brothers and their families. On 2 Dec 1980 Sudha died in
hospital due to burns. Her family filed a case and in the trial, her neighbours were
called as witnesses. They had heard Sudha scream and had taken her to
hospital with severe burns. Sudha had stated that her mother-in-law had poured
kerosene oil on her and her husband had lit the fire. The trial court had convicted
Laxman, his mother and brother-in-law and had sentenced all three of them
to death. In 1983 all three accused went to the High Court to appeal and the
hearing decided that Sudha had died due to an accidental fire and the three were
acquitted.
The above High Court judgement deeply troubled women and they held
demonstrations and they filed separate appeal against the High Court decision in
the Supreme Court through the Federation of Women Lawyers.
In 1985 the Supreme Court heard the argument and found Laxman and his
mother guilty and acquitted his brother-in-law for lack of evidence. Laxman and
his mother were sent to prison for life.
