Nitish Katara murder: HC refuses notice

The Delhi High court on Monday refused to issue notice on a plea by Neelam Katara demanding death penalty for her son's killers Vikas and Vishal Yadav, who have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

A division bench of Justices BN Chaturvedi and PK Bhasin refused to issue notice stating that the appeal would be heard as and when accused challenge the quantum of punishment, and posted the matter for Aug 26.

The court passed the order after inquiring from the defence counsel whether they will be filing an appeal, on which they replied that they still have time to file an appeal.

A trial court May 30 awarded life imprisonment to the two cousins for bludgeoning Katara to death and burning his body. They have also been fined Rs.160,000 each.

The defence has 90 days to file an appeal in the high court.

Earlier this month, challenging the quantum of sentence, Neelam Katara through her counsel Kaushik Dey stated that the convicts need not be shown any leniency as the murder was committed in a gruesome manner and they showed disrespect to the dead body.

The lawyer also cited the criminal records of the two in the petition. Vikas and Vishal are the son and nephew of influential Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav.

Nitish, son of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was kidnapped and murdered after he attended a wedding in Ghaziabad Feb 16, 2002. His body was found in a village in Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh.

The cousins, Vikas and Vishal, resented Nitish's alleged relationship their sister Bharati.