Chandigarh: 3 snatchers who assaulted walkers at night awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment
The convicts had snatched two friends’ mobile phones and wallet after beating them up in Chandigarh’s Burail village in March 2020
Observing that protection of society and deterring the criminal is the avowed object of law that requires an appropriate sentence, a local court has awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to three snatchers who assaulted two men out for a night walk in March 2020.
The convicts, Raja Ram and Sohail, alias Chotu, both residents of Burail village, Chandigarh, and Ajay, alias Babuganja, of Jhujjar Nagar, Mohali, were also fined ₹11,000 each by the court of additional sessions judge Dr Rajneesh.
They had attacked two friends — Guddu Shah and Kamlesh — in Burail village around 11.30 pm on March 14, 2020 while they were taking a walk after dinner.
As per case files, while two of the accused restrained the victims, the other two beat them up. Threatening to kill them, the accused snatched Shah’s two mobile phones, his wallet containing his Aadhaar card, driving licence and debit card, and ₹350 in cash. They also snatched Kamlesh’s mobile phone, before fleeing the spot.
On the victims’ complaint, police had registered a case under Sections 379-B (snatching with hurt or wrongful restraint or fear of hurt), 356 (assault or criminal force in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 392 (robbery) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector-34 police station.
Following a probe, they had arrested Raja Ram, Sohail and Ajay, besides a juvenile, who was acquitted in a separate trial.
In the current trial, the accused claimed they were falsely implicated. But the public prosecutor argued that they were found in possession of the stolen property.
Hearing the arguments, the court observed that there was no evidence to back the accused’s claim of false implication. The sequence of events also overruled the possibility of false implication, the court noted, before convicting the trio and awarding them 10-year sentence.
Conviction under stringent anti-snatching law
Until 2019, the Chandigarh Police used to book snatchers under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC, which entails a maximum punishment of three years.
However, Sections 379-A (snatching) and 379-B (snatching with hurt or wrongful restraint or fear of hurt) were introduced after the Union ministry of home affairs notified the extension of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Haryana Amendment) Act, 2014, to Chandigarh on December 17, 2019.
Conviction under Section 379-A provides for rigorous imprisonment of five to 10 years, while a more stringent jail term of 10 to 14 years is awarded under Section 379-B.