'Strict action against parents'

The counsel for the child tortured by his father and stepmother has requested a Delhi court to award them the maximum punishment.

The counsel for the child tortured by his father and stepmother has requested a Delhi court to award them the maximum punishment.

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"Both persons have a high status in society, but have committed such a ghastly act that cannot be overlooked," the victim's advocate, Ravinder S Garia, told additional sessions judge Virender Bhat.

Garia demanded the harshest punishment for Major (Retd) Lalit Balhara and his second wife Preeti Balhara, saying that the victim being a defenceless child had suffered permanent damage.

Despite the fiduciary relationship between the victim and the convicted couple, they committed the crime, he added.

The defence counsel, however, prayed for leniency saying that the couple were first time offenders and also had two other minor children - a daughter aged 14 and a son aged 8.

After hearing the arguments on the quantum of the sentence, the court, which on Monday had convicted the couple of battering the child with the intention to kill, fixed August 4 to pronounce the sentence.

The Balharas have been convicted for torturing their child – Balhara's son by his first marriage. The child, now 13, deposed against his parents, saying they repeatedly tortured him.

A medical report, filed on the HC's order concluded that the child was suffering from 'battered baby syndrome'. Handing over the child's custody to his grandfather, the HC had called for a probe.