Delivering verdict in a case of "honour killing", a sessions court here on Friday sentenced a couple to life imprisonment for killing their 18-year-old daughter after she eloped with a boy belonging to a different community.

Additional Sessions Judge O S Jaiswal held Mohammad Munna Sardar Khan and his wife Shehnaz Khan guilty of murdering their daughter Mehnaz Khan and cutting her body into 11 pieces on July 2, 2006 for eloping and marrying a Hindu Maharashtrian boy, Vidyanand Jadhav.

The court, while sentencing them to life imprisonment, observed that it is not a “rarest of the rare case” since they cut the body into 11 pieces only after strangulating Mehnaz to death with a towel. But the judge said it was “indeed one of the inhuman acts”.

Considering the moral responsibility the couple have towards their other five children, the judge showed leniency while announcing the punishment and sentenced them to the minimum punishment of life.

According to the prosecution case, on July 2, 2006, Mehnaz eloped with her childhood love Vidyanand Jadhav to Panvel where they got married. When Khan learnt about this, he along with his wife approached Mehnaz and convinced her to return home, promising that they would help her settle down in life. They also assured her that they would accept her marriage to Jadhav.

But later in the evening, on reaching the Cuffe Parade residence of the accused, Khan strangulated Mehnaz to death while her mother prevented her from escaping.

Mehnaz’s body was then cut into 11 pieces and her skin peeled off so that the body could not be identified if recovered. Her nose and ears were also chopped. The body was then stuffed into a gunny bag and thrown off the Byculla bridge.

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