E-Paper
Nine-year-old's account helps convict man, awarded 7-year jail
Testimony of a nine-year-old girl helped prove guilt of her 45-year-old neighbour who killed her father with a blade. Based on her account, a local court awarded seven years in jail to Amrish Thakur, a labourer hailing from Bihar, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Testimony of a nine-year-old girl helped prove guilt of her 45-year-old neighbour who killed her father with a blade. Based on her account, a local court awarded seven years in jail to Amrish Thakur, a labourer hailing from Bihar, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Thakur was booked for murder of his neighbour, Munshi Ram, in June 2013. According to the police, Thakur had attacked Ram, a rickshaw-puller with a blade, resulting in his death after a fight over utensils. The prosecution failed to prove the charges of murder, but the testimony of Ram's daughter, Reshma, who was an eyewitness in the case, proved that Ram was killed by Thakur, though he had no such intention.
"Ram's death was a result of a fit of anger and Thakur had no intention of killing him. Thus, the court dropped the charges of murder and convicted him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder," said defence counsel Inderjeet Bassi.
As per the prosecution, on June 25, 2013, after attacking Ram with a blade, Thakur had fled, while dropping the blade on the spot. Reshma, who witnessed the incident, had called up the police.
According to Reshma, Thakur had accused her father of stealing his utensils and had been demanding them back. She claimed that Thakur, who worked at a sawmill, used to carry the blade with him always.
