Retired chemistry professor Mamta Pathak, who made headlines after a clip of her presenting her case inside Madhya Pradesh High Court went viral, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her husband.
In a 97-page detailed judgment, the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the lower court's earlier ruling that had convicted Mamta of her husband's murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment.
In May this year, a video of 60-year-old Mamta, who has now been convicted of killing her husband by electrocuting him, had taken the internet by surprise.
In the video, she was seen presenting a defensive argument before the Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
In her defense, Mamta had calmly explained before the court that "In the post-mortem room, it is not possible to differentiate between thermal burns and electric burn marks. When current flows, volatilization of atoms... particles of the metal get deposited in the tissue. When it goes to the lab, they remove the burn mark, separate the particles, and dissolve them with chemicals to determine whether..."
The judge then interjects, asking, "Are you a chemistry professor?" She replies, "Yes." This revelation visibly stuns Justice Vivek Agarwal.
According to reports, Mamta Pathak killed her husband, Neeraj Pathak, a retired government doctor, by giving him a heavy dose of sleeping pills before allegedly electrocuting him after discovering his extramarital affair.
According to the police chargesheet, Mamta confessed during interrogation that she administered an overdose of sleeping pills and later inflicted electric shocks on her husband on the night of April 29, 2021.
The district court had convicted her of Neeraj Pathak's murder in 2022.
