AIZAWL, June 19 - A district court in Champhai today sentenced a 57-year-old man and his 28-year-old son to rigorous life imprisonment for burning an elderly woman and two children to death.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 8,000 each on the two convicts.
Singngaihsuta and his son Pausawmthanga, residents of Vengthar in Champhai, were held guilty for the heinous crime they committed in 2015.
Additional Sessions Judge R Vanlalena pronounced the judgment via video conferencing. The father-son duo was proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the judge observed.
On the fateful night of November 29, 2015, an Assam-type house at Vengthar neighbourhood in Champhai was engulfed by fire. A widow Haulamchingi, the convict�s daughter-in-law, her two-year-old daughter, her 65-year-old mother and a five-year-old boy were in deep sleep when the fire broke out. Later, it came to light that it was a case of arson.
Eyewitnesses said when the victims tried to come out of the house, the only door was bolted from outside.
When one of their neighbours unlocked the door, Haulamchingi managed to run out of the house but her mother, her daughter and the boy died in the fire.
Singngaihsuta later confessed to the police that he had set the house on fire after pouring petrol on it.
