Rohtak/Fatehabad/Hisar: In a landmark judgement, a Fatehabad court on Thursday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for pushing a Rohtak woman off a moving train after allegedly molesting her, leading to her death in 2022.The court of additional sessions judge Tarun Singal convicted the accused in the murder of the Rohtak woman and awarded him rigorous life imprisonment under Section 302 of the IPC. The court also sentenced him to three years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 354-A (sexual harassment), along with fines of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000 respectively. Both sentences will run concurrently.The deceased had two children, including a nine-year-old son, who emerged as a key eyewitness in the case.According to the prosecution, on Sept 1, 2022, the woman had travelled to her parental home and later boarded a passenger train with her son to return. Around 9pm, she informed her husband about their arrival. However, when the train reached the railway station, only her son got down.The child, in a state of distress, told his father that a man had misbehaved with his mother in the train and, following a scuffle, pushed her off the moving train.The family searched along the railway tracks throughout the night and her body was found in bushes near the tracks at around 4am.The accused had jumped off the train before it reached the station and sustained injuries. He was later admitted to a govt hospital. He was identified by the minor boy after the police showed him a photograph.During trial, the prosecution examined 26 witnesses and placed around 80 documents on record. The testimony of the complainant and the minor eyewitness proved crucial in establishing the sequence of events.While the prosecution pressed for death penalty, the court held that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category and awarded life imprisonment, taking into account the legal principles governing sentencing.
