A British woman sentenced to death for murdering her husband in India is receiving praise for her artwork whilst awaiting execution.
Ramandeep Kaur Mann, 39, from Derby, has been creating paintings and Christmas cards in Shahjahanpur District Jail, where she is being celebrated for her artistic talents.
Videos and pictures show the convicted killer being applauded for her colourful artwork during prison exhibitions, with charity workers closely inspecting and admiring her paintings during festive season visits.
Mann was sentenced to death last October for the 2016 murder of her husband Sukhjit Singh, 34, after the court found Mann had colluded with her lover to murder her husband whilst on holiday in India with their two children.
Ramandeep Kaur Mann has been creating paintings and Christmas cards in prison
She laced Singh’s biryani dinner with sedatives before slitting his throat as he slept in their marital bed, which was witnessed by the couple’s eldest son Arjun, who was nine years old at the time and whose testimony was instrumental in securing her conviction.
The murder was part of a plot to claim a £2million life insurance policy taken out in her husband’s name and inherit his property.
Behind bars, Mann has embraced various activities alongside her artistic pursuits, participating in yoga classes and provides English lessons to fellow female inmates and their children.
Her artwork includes elaborate paintings and personalised Christmas cards for senior officials.
One of her notable paintings depicts a woman being grasped by a man with his hand over her mouth, alongside figures covering their ears and eyes.
The work bears the message: “Spectators are equal criminals. Be mighty, Not mute. Stand up.”
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She shares a dormitory-style cell with 55 other female prisoners in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur District Jail.
Meanwhile, the celebrations of Mann’s artwork have been strongly condemned by her victim’s family.
“She does not deserve any applause and has no right to celebrate Christmas or any other occasion while I continue to suffer,” Sukhjit’s mother, Bans Kaur, told the Daily Mail.
Kaur called the Christmas celebration of Mann’s prison artwork “absolutely disgusting” and vowed to speak with jail officials.
She added that her daughter-in-law should not be given “a chance to paint and have a comfortable life”.
She is confined in Shahjahanpur District Jail
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Jail Superintendent Mijaji Lal described Mann, saying: “When she came to the jail, she was a different person. She used to stay alone, depressed, and had difficulties with the jail culture and food.”
The superintendent noted her health initially declined, with hair loss requiring a special daily diet, which now consists of standard prison fare, including porridge and tea for breakfast, with dal, vegetables, chapati and rice for lunch and dinner.
“She doesn’t demand anything special. Just the painting brush and the colours for making paintings,” Lal said.
Arjun, now 18, provided a chilling account of witnessing his mother’s crime, explaining to the Mail: “There are not many children who watch their mother kill their father and then give evidence about it.”
He described seeing his mother smother his father with a pillow before her lover hit him with a hammer and she slit his throat.