Kollam (Kerala) | A Kerala court has sentenced a 45-year-old woman to life imprisonment for murdering her mother-in-law in December 2019.

The woman had brutally killed her mother-in-law by striking her on the head with a rock while she was asleep at their residence in Puthoor here.

Kollam 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge P N Vinod imposed the punishment on Giritha Kumari who was the wife of the victim's younger son, public prosecutor (PP) Sicin G Mundakkal said.

According to the prosecution, the daughter-in-law carried out the crime as the victim had scolded her for having an illicit relationship with a neighbour.

On December 11, 2019, when the mother-in-law was sleeping in her room in the afternoon, Kumari attacked her with a rock on her head and face, the PP said.

Hearing the victim's screams, her husband and the others broke open the kitchen door and entered the house to find her on the floor bathed in blood, the PP said.

The victim was rushed to a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, but her life could not be saved, he said.

Kumari was convicted based on the statements of those who broke into the house after hearing the victim's screams and other circumstantial evidence, the prosecutor said.