No death penalty for man who stabbed wife 49 times three days after childbirth

Four years ago, a young woman from Odisha had just given birth to her second child when she was tragically killed by her husband three days later. The husband then attempted to kill their six-year-old daughter by cutting her throat before fleeing the scene. He was eventually caught and tried, eventually receiving a death sentence.

However, the Orissa High Court has now commuted this sentence to life imprisonment, requiring the prisoner to serve at least 35 years in jail before he can be considered for release. While the court acknowledged the barbaric and brutal nature of the crime, it decided that it did not meet the "rarest of rare" circumstances required to grant a death sentence.

The court also emphasized the need to secure the future of the two young children, whose future was significantly impacted by their parents' untimely deaths. In addition to the life sentence, the court directed the state to pay each child Rs 10 lakh as compensation, recognizing that no sum could fully compensate for the loss of their parents and the trauma they experienced.