Allahabad high court (File photo)

PRAYAGRAJ: Allahabad high court has convicted an elderly man and an accomplice of strangling his wife to death in 1982 under the pretext of “driving out a ghost”, calling it a shocking case of blind faith used as a cover for murder.After a 43-year-long legal battle, a division bench of Justices Rajiv Gupta and Harvir Singh sentenced Awadhesh Kumar, 71, and co-accused Mata Prasad to life imprisonment, overturning a 1984 trial court acquittal.High court calls wife’s killing ‘classic case of blind faith’The court also handed them three-year sentences under IPC Section 201 for destroying evidence, saying both terms would run concurrently. Two other accused died while the appeal filed by UP govt was pending.Prosecutors said Kumar killed his 23-year-old wife Kusuma Devi on Aug 6, 1982, after being caught in an illicit relationship with his younger brother’s wife.Kumar, who was then 28 years old, Prasad and two others pinned Kusuma down and throttled her, claiming they were exorcising a ghost.Her body was cremated in a hurry that same night to conceal the crime, according to witness testimony.Calling it “a classic case of blind faith”, the HC said: “Such unfortunate realities are still prevalent in remote areas in different cultures based on superstition and belief, just to bring good fortune and to appease the gods. This shocks the conscience of civilized society and is to be condemned by one and all, to curb such social evils.”Awadhesh Kumar and co-accused Mata Prasad have been ordered to surrender within two weeks. Each was fined Rs 20,000 for murder and Rs 5,000 for destroying evidence.