Sixty-five-year-old woman may get some reprieve for allegedly killing her son for attempting to rape his daughter as the police have decided to offer legal help to the old woman.
Last week at Sakkavayal village of Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu, Lakshmi (name changed) had thrown her 47-year-old son away when he tried to rape his daughter. But the alcoholic man flung his mother and started sexually assaulting his 19-year-old daughter.
The old woman allegedly hacked her son to death with a sickle.
As he lay in a pool of blood, Lakshmi was sobbing, holding on to Kavitha (name changed). “What else could she have done? She was protecting me,” said Kavitha.
After some time, the police arrested Lakshmi and put her in custody, leaving the teenager wondering as to who would look after her now that her grandmother was gone. Lakshmi was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Sector 304 of the IPC).
Local police officers say they are sympathetic to the old woman but their hands are tied because of law. “If she applies for bail, the police will not oppose it,” Sivaganga superintendent of police T Jayachandran told Hindustan Times.
“We have instructed the investigating officers to discuss with the legal officers as to how best she can be helped, given the nature of the crime and the circumstances in which it was committed,” he added.
Lawyers like Sudha Ramalingam say there are provisions in the law that are applicable in such cases and Section 100 (when the right of private defence of the body extends to causing death) can be invoked.
