The Karnataka High Court has sentenced Abdul Sharif, also known as Amir Jan, to life imprisonment for setting fire to a house in Mysuru in 2013, resulting in the deaths of six family members. This decision overturns a 2018 lower court order that had acquitted Sharif.
A division bench comprising Justice H P Sandesh and Justice B Pramod delivered the verdict while hearing the state government’s appeal against the Mysuru Sessions Court’s acquittal.
The court convicted Sharif under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy a house) and ordered him to surrender before the trial court.
The arson occurred around midnight on April 12, 2013, after Sharif, involved in a financial dispute with the family of Mohammed Amir Jan, allegedly poured petrol on the house. Six victims – Mohammed Amir Jan, his mother Aproz Begum, Reshma, Anjum, Rizwan and Rizana – sustained fatal injuries.
The bench observed that the trial court had ignored substantial evidence, including the Forensic Science Laboratory report, and had improperly focused on whether the explosion happened immediately or later – an issue deemed irrelevant. It labelled the lower court’s order defective and perverse, leading to its reversal.
Sharif was 50 years old at the time of the incident and is now 63, prompting the court to impose life imprisonment after considering all aspects of the case.