Chandigarh: 21-year-old to spend life in prison for murdering teen
The interest of justice will be completely met if the convict is sentenced to imprisonment for life, said the court of additional district and sessions judge Jaibir Singh while awarding the sentence to the convict, Aakash, a resident Colony Number 4, Chandigarh
A 21-year-old youth who stabbed a 19-year-old boy to death with a knife in 2020 has been sentenced to life in prison by a local court.
“The interest of justice will be completely met if the convict is sentenced to imprisonment for life,” said the court of additional district and sessions judge Jaibir Singh while awarding the sentence to the convict, Aakash, a resident Colony Number 4.
He was also fined ₹10,000 for commission of offence punishable under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Two others, Vikas Kumar, 20, and Amandeep, 24, also from the locality, were acquitted.
As per cases files, on August 23, 2020, the father of the victim, Sandeep, received information that some people were beating up his son Sandeep in Colony Number 4.
As the father, Jugnu, reached the spot, he saw Sandeep lying on the ground and Aakash stabbing him in the chest and abdomen with a knife, while other boys were hitting him. He rushed to save his son and in the meantime, a PCR vehicle also arrived at the scene, but his son had already succumbed to the stab injuries.
In his complaint to police, Jugnu alleged that one Varinder, alias Biri, attacked his son to avenge a quarrel from April 2020 and killed him. While Varinder continues to remain out of police reach, Aakash, Vikas and Amandeep underwent trial for charges under Sections 302, 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
Nearly three years later, the court convicted Aakash and acquitted his brother Vikas and Amandeep.
While acquitting the duo, the court observed that there was no evidence regarding how and where the accused hatched the alleged conspiracy to kill Sandeep. No recovery has been effected from them and witnesses have given him the clean chit. “Merely on the ground that Vikas is the brother of accused Aakash, no presumption of his guilt in the commission of crime can be drawn against him,” it said.
But the court noted, “It is established to the hilt that it was accused Aakash who gave knife blows to the deceased Sandeep, due to which he died. Thus, he is held guilty of commission of offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC.”
Pleading for leniency, Aakash stated that he was a BA second-year student, hockey player, NCC certificate holder and had been even sponsored for recruitment in the army.
But arguing that even the deceased was a young person, the public prosecutor demanded punishment that should act as a deterrent for like-minded persons in society.