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Nikita Tomar murder: Brother approaches HC, seeks death sentence for convicts
21-year-old Nikita Tomar had been shot dead outside her college in Ballabhgarh on October 26, 2020; earlier, a fast-track court had sentenced the two convicts to life imprisonment; brother, in his plea to HC, said such criminals cannot be reformed
The brother of Nikita Tomar, a 21-year-old student who was shot dead outside her college in Ballabhgarh on October 26, 2020, has approached the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking death penalty for the two convicts in the case.
The appeal was admitted for hearing on Friday by the high court bench of justice Ritu Bahri and justice Archana Puri.
In March this year, a fast-track court in Faridabad had convicted the duo, Tohsif and Rehan, and sentenced them to life imprisonment for the murder. A third accused, Ajrudeen, was acquitted in the case.
In his plea, the victim’s brother, Naveen Tomar, stated that the trial court had erred in sentencing the duo and also not compensated the family for the loss. “.. trial court failed to consider that the present case falls under the category of rarest of the rare case. Admittedly the horrific incident took place in broad daylight in public gaze where a young girl, aged 21, was tried to be forcefully abducted and on her resistance, she was brutally shot,” the plea says.
A closed-circuit television camera installed outside the college had shown the convicts, Tohsif and Rehan, trying to shove the victim into a car and later shooting her when she resisted. Nikita had later succumbed to her injuries.
“The accused need to be weeded out of the society to send a signal so that nobody dares to commit such a crime with a hapless girl. There are no chances of such people getting reformed and they cannot be allowed to mix with the society again. Therefore, they deserve to be sent to the gallows,” the brother stated in his plea, in which compensation was also sought for the family.
He has also filed another plea challenging the acquittal of the third accused, Ajrudeen, and claimed that he should be convicted for criminal conspiracy in the murder case. The court in his case had said that though there were allegations of conspiracy against him, he was not present at the place of occurrence.
