Love triangles in a marriage can cut both ways. The ‘woh‘ can be a man too. The incident of Naval Officer K.M. Nanavati gunning down his wife’s paramour, in the late ’50s, has not been forgotten. Truth be told, it is beyond doubt, a man and a woman are both equally likely to wander, and wonder, in a marriage and there is no reason to paint the wife a shade harsher than the husband; or a shade more complimentary.

Previously, I had commented on Pinakin Mahipatray Rawal v. State of Gujarat. The analysis in Pinakin involved a husband-wife-other woman matrix. Hon’ble Supreme Court of India while enquiring into the alleged extra marital relationship of the husband – almost brushed it aside – and even added in its novel tone, “too much of possessiveness could also lead to emotional stress”. The same caution should be attached to a husband-wife-other man matrix. But in Sushil Sharma v. State of NCT of Delhi, [(2014) 4 SCC 317] pronounced by no less than a wise head of the fairer sex, that caution seems all but lost.

Sushil Sharma was the President of Delhi Youth Congress and his wife, Naina, General Secretary of the Girl Wing. Naina had a relationship with one Matloob Karim before marriage. It was well established by evidence, Naina and Sushil used to fight often. Some of their fights had, at its root, Sushil’s disinclination to make the marriage public. Some other fights were because Sushil suspected Naina’s fidelity. What did Sushil do, therefore? He directed his peon to keep a watch on his wife. He “restricted her movements because he wanted to stop her from her wayward ways”. And eventually, as a result of this “possessiveness”, he murdered her and burnt her in a ‘tandoor‘. This begs the question: what were Naina’s “wayward ways”? According to Matloob’s evidence, which SC feels has a “ring of truth”, Naina used to call him even after marriage. They used to meet and talk. Naina used to say, she was “trapped” and Sushil “used to abuse and thrash her on trivial matters” – none of which retrospectively seem as untrue considering her fate lay in a hot ‘tandoor‘.

There are no aspersions discernible that, Naina and Matloob’s relationship, post her marriage, went beyond the comfort and solace a woman might very well seek in a former lover. It must be assumed Matloob was a friend. SC however notes, evidence of Matloob is “criticized on the ground he is not a person of good character because he admitted that even after marriage, he continued to have a relationship with the deceased”. The decision does not describe the relationship as sexual. Further still, while enumerating the “mitigating circumstances” SC holds, Sushil was “deeply in love” with his wife and knowing fully well Naina was close to Matloob, he married her hoping she would “settle down”. But “unfortunately” Naina was still “in touch” with Matloob. The murder was a result of “possessiveness” – an outcome of “a strained personal relationship” – which was not an offence against society.

We are not discussing here today whether the Death Penalty of Sushil should at all have been commuted to Life Imprisonment; or why the “shock to the collective conscience” parameter was forgotten completely. Our objective, instead, is to find the judicial interpretation of the “Pati, Patni aur Woh” conundrum. Hon’ble Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai would have us men believe, a) you cannot keep in touch with a woman after she is married; b) if you do your character is of questionable merit; c) married women should settle down; d) by settling down it is meant, she should avoid talking to her former lovers and f) if she still does talk to him/them it is unfortunate. If the tenor of the Judgment in Pinakin meant to say: your husbands may develop some liking for another woman – but, please darling, do not get so possessive the tenor of the Judgment in Sushil certainly is: dear wife, if you find another man – you have it coming.

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Here is an excerpt from Sunetra Choudhury’s Behind Bars – Prison Tales of India’s Most Famous, ‘The Tandoor Murderer’, (Roli Books, 2017):

‘I kept thinking what if I had arrived 2 minutes later. That’s all. Just 2 minutes. I would not have done this.’ It was again a coincidence and a chance, Sushil Sharma came home to his Mandir Marg Flat and found his wife, Naina Sahni, on phone. ‘I asked her who she was talking to and she said to her family. I pressed redial and realized it wasn’t her family, but someone else.’ Sushil had heard about Naina’s affair with Matloob and it had resulted in terrible discord in their marriage. But that night, the violence went to some other level altogether. ‘We started fighting and it was so bad, she tried to commit suicide. That’s when out of anger, I reached for my gun and shot her twice.’ Sushil at no point denies, he killed Naina Sahni. What he does deny is, he chopped her body into pieces so that it could be cooked in the ‘tandoor‘ to become the perfect murder. Sushil cites the 2013 Supreme Court Judgment which said ‘no opinion could be given as to whether the dead body was cut, as dislocation could be due to burning of the dead body. There is no recovery of any weapon like chopper which could suggest Sushil had cut up the dead body.’ In other words, if he did indeed chop her up, Police didn’t find the weapon that was used and so this wasn’t conclusively proved. Sushil claims it was the impact of the heat that made her limbs fall apart. 

The first letter he got in jail was from Notorious Bikini Killer, Charles Sobhraj. Accused of more than 20 murders, Sobhraj was serving the last 3 years of his jail term in India when Sushil Sharma arrived. 

‘Dear Sushilji, you have no reason to worry. Tell me if you need anything.’ CS

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