Mumbai Man Sentenced to Life for Killing Son Over Stepmother Dispute

A Mumbai court ruled the 2018 killing was murder, rejecting the father's claim that his son died by suicide.

Salim Shaikh was convicted of murdering his 20-year-old son, Imran, after an argument escalated over the son's refusal to call his stepmother 'ammi' (mother).
The incident occurred in August 2018 in Mumbai's Dongri area, where the father stabbed his son multiple times with a pair of scissors.
Imran's biological mother initially reported the crime to the police but later attempted to support her husband's claim that the death was a suicide.
The court rejected the father's defense, citing evidence that the injuries were homicidal, the father's flight from the scene, and his failure to assist his injured son.
Judge SD Tawshikar sentenced Shaikh to life imprisonment, calling the act cruel but ruling it did not meet the 'rarest of rare' criteria for the death penalty.