‘Society losing faith in system’: Delhi HC as it upholds murder conviction of two

The bench, while dismissingpleas against the life terms awarded for killing a factory worker, said that safety is paramount for people to lead a good, dignified life and that even if one life is lost, it is an irreparable loss for the nation

The Delhi high court on Tuesday said that the society is losing faith in the system due to delinquency, which needs to be dealt with a stern hand, while upholding the conviction of two persons for murdering a 25-year-old man in 2012 at Tikri village.

The court said that there was “no shadow of a doubt” that the bodily injury inflicted by the appellants was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature and was not caused accidentally but with intention and motive to rob the mobile phone of the deceased victim. (Picture for representation only)

A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani, while dismissingAkash and Yogesh’spleas against the life terms awarded to them for killing the man, a factory worker, said that safety is paramount for people to lead a good, dignified life and that even if one life is lost, it is an irreparable loss for the nation.

“Before parting with the case, it would be trite to note that the present is an extremely unfortunate case where a young boy, who worked hard in order to make ends meet, tragically lost his life because of the menace created by the delinquents of society. Safety and security of the people is axiomatically paramount for them to lead a good, dignified life. Owing to delinquency, the society is losing faith in the system. The offenders, thus, need to be dealt with a stern hand. Even one life lost, is an irreparable loss we bear as a nation forever,” the bench said in a 16-page judgment.

According to the prosecution, in July 2012, when the witness and the deceased, who worked at a factory, were returning from work, the accused approached them on a motorcycle and “forcibly searched” the pocket of the witness. They subsequently snatched and robbed the mobile phone of the victim, and one of them stabbed the victim in the thigh.

The court said that there was “no shadow of a doubt” that the bodily injury inflicted by the appellants was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature and was not caused accidentally but with intention and motive to rob the mobile phone of the deceased victim.

Assailing the trial court judgment, convicting and sentencing them for murdering the victim, the appellants argued that there was no light at the spot of the incident and therefore the witness could not have possibly seen any of the alleged assailants.