Two Chandigarh men awarded 7-year rigorous imprisonment for snatching

The two men were convicted under Section 379-A (snatching) of the Indian Penal Code by the court of additional sessions judge Jaibir Singh

A local court has sentenced two youths from Dadumajra to seven-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) for snatching a mobile phone and ₹1,600 cash from a rickshaw puller at the Sector-43 ISBT in September 2020.

The convicts, Rajiv, alias Rocky, and Manu, alias Monu, both residents of Dadumajra in Chandigarh, are aged 21 and 19, respectively. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The convicts, Rajiv,alias Rocky, and Manu, alias Monu, are aged 21 and 19, respectively.

They were convicted under Section 379-A (snatching) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the court of additional sessions judge Jaibir Singh that also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on the duo. If the fine is not paid, they will have to undergo an extra year of rigorous imprisonment.

According to the FIR, on September 20 2020, the complainant, Hanuman, was sleeping near a tea stall at the ISBT, when the two youths arrived there a motorcycle at 2 am and woke him up for a beedi.

When he refused, they slapped him and snatched his mobile phone, charger and wallet containing ₹1,600 in cash, and fled.

The prosecution examined eight witnesses and established how the snatched phone was recovered from the duo after their fight near the Sector 43/44 light point, following which Manu was shifted to PGIMER and Rajiv was arrested.

The defence counsel argued that no money was recovered from the accused and the SIM of the recovered phone was not produced and its ownership was not proved. Besides, no CCTV footage from the ISBT was produced.

However, the court observed that the prosecution had been able to bring home the guilt against the two accused beyond reasonable doubt.