“Honour Thy Parents”—Court Quotes Bible, Quran, Ramcharitmanas, Guru Granth Sahib To Sentence Man to Death

In a chilling case of matricide driven by greed, a district court in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday sentenced 27-year-old Deepak Pachauri to death for murdering his adoptive mother and concealing the crime beneath a concrete bathroom floor.

But what stood out in the verdict was not just the brutality of the act but the court’s searing moral reflection, which drew heavily from four holy scriptures: the Ramcharitmanas, the Guru Granth Sahib, the Quran, and the Bible.

From son to slayer: A betrayal beyond blood

Special Judge L. D. Solanki delivered the judgment, stating that a child who turns on their own parents betrays the most sacred trust. “The one who bears the responsibility of protecting parents, who is the support in their old age—if that very protector becomes the destroyer—then why would parents raise such a child?” the court noted.

Quoting an age-old proverb, the judge asked, “If the fence itself starts eating the crop, then whom will the farmer trust?”

The incident took place on May 6, 2024, when Deepak Pachauri reported his mother, Ushadevi, missing. He claimed she had left for a hospital and never returned. A missing report was filed on June 8. However, police later found inconsistencies in his statements. During interrogation, Deepak allegedly confessed to murdering his mother after she refused to give him money.

Adopted from a Gwalior orphanage two decades ago, Deepak had earlier inherited ₹16.85 lakh after his father’s death in 2021—but allegedly lost the amount in the stock market. When Ushadevi refused his repeated demands for money from her ₹32 lakh savings, he allegedly killed her while she was climbing stairs post-bath. The court noted that Deepak pushed her, beat her with an iron rod, strangled her with a saree, and buried her beneath the bathroom floor with bricks and cement.

A moral indictment drawn from scripture

Judge Solanki used verses from four major religious texts to underscore the gravity of the crime and articulate the moral collapse represented by matricide:

• Ramcharitmanas: The judge invoked the story of Lord Rama’s obedience to his parents and the tale of Shravan Kumar, saying, “A son who satisfies his parents is rare in the entire world.”
• Guru Granth Sahib: Quoting Sikh teachings, the court said, “One who serves mother and father is called a true brave person. Without such brave people, how can the lineage continue?”
• Quran: Citing the verse on kindness to parents, the judge read, “Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him and be kind to parents… Do not rebuke them, but speak to them respectfully.”
• Bible: From Matthew 15:4 and Exodus, the court highlighted: “Honour your father and mother… Whoever strikes or curses them shall be put to death.”

“These teachings,” the order said, “command children to serve their parents until old age. Any deviation from this is a betrayal of divine and social order.”

‘Death is the only adequate punishment.’

The court sentenced Deepak to death by hanging under Section 302 IPC for murder and seven years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 201 IPC for destruction of evidence, along with a fine of ₹1,000 under each section. Failure to pay the fines would add another six months of imprisonment per count.

“It is clear that the accused, out of greed for jewellery and money, did not let the deceased live, hit her head several times with an iron rod… broke the skull and nose… caused severe injuries and later buried her body to escape accountability,” the court noted.

The judge concluded that any leniency in such a case would send a damaging message to society: “No childless parent would adopt an orphan again.”