The Delhi High Court on Tuesday acquitted a 30-year-old woman sentenced to life for killing her molestor, holding that her act amounted to self-defence and not murder. A Division Bench of Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin held that Simmi, a resident of Daryaganj was only trying to protect her self and did not “intend” to murder her assailant. A Sessions Court had in September 21, 2006 sentenced Simmi to life imprisonment on finding her guilty of bludgeoning Mastana, identified as a vagabond, to death with a heavy stone in the early hours of April 22, 2004. In her appeal, Simmi, through her counsel Ritu Gauba, contended that Mastana had attempted to rape her under the influence of alcohol. She had “pushed him away” in self-defence and he had fallen on a stone, fatally injuring himself on the head. She had then gone on to lodge a complaint with the local police, only to be “falsely implicated” for the murder of her attacker, the appeal had said. The lower court had refused to consider her version on the ground that she had not produced any evidence to corroborate her defence.
