Mumbai: A former Mumbai resident, settled in Dubai, has been convicted for murdering his wife and will be executed by a firing squad. The Bombay High Court will now have to decide who would get the custody of their 6-year-old daughter.
Atif Popere, had killed Bushra, his 24 -year-old wife in March 2013. He and his accomplice were convicted the same year. After the murder, Popere had fled to India but was forced to eventually head back to UAE and surrender.
Popere’s plea to commute death sentence to life imprisonment was rejected in October. According to the laws of UAE, his death sentence can now be commuted only if the family of his victim pardons him, NDTV reported.
“I want my son-in-law’s punishment to be executed as soon as possible. I will not forgive him because he killed my daughter.” said Bushra’s mother Usha Dhananjayan, who is locked in a custody battle for her grand-daughter with Popere’s family.
“The custody should not travel to the family of Atif,” said Rizwan Merchant, the lawyer representing Usha Dhananjayan. “I feel they are not justified in seeking custody because if he could not take care of her mother, if he had that much of animosity towards the mother that he eliminated her, I doubt he would have any feelings for the child also,” said Mr Merchant.
On January 15, the Bombay High Court will hear Mrs Dhananjayan’s plea.
Popere had met Ms Nimmy Dhananjayan when she was studying at a college in Mumbai. The two were married in 2008. Later, he moved to Dubai for work and their daughter was born in 2009.
The motive for the murder is still not clear. Dr Abraham Mathai, the former Vice-Chairman of Maharashtra Minorities Commission said Popere was apparently having an affair and when Bushra questioned him, he killed her.