23-year-old sentenced to life for cop’s murder

A day after convicting him, the sessions court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to 23-year-old Ahmed Ali Mohamad Ali Qureshi for assaulting a 51-year-old on-duty

A day after convicting him, the sessions court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to 23-year-old Ahmed Ali Mohamad Ali Qureshi for assaulting a 51-year-old on-duty traffic constable with a bamboo stick on his head four years ago, which had led to his death.

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Special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade had earlier sought capital punishment for Qureshi for the crime. However, the court, while awarding the quantum of punishment, held that it was not a case of “rarest of rare” crime to award capital punishment to the accused.

“No doubt, the crime was heinous leading to the brutal murder of an on duty traffic cop. Considering the age of the accused and the nature of weapon used and having regard to the other circumstances brought on record, in my considered opinion this case does not fall in the rarest of rare category,” the court held.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 to the convict, of which ₹45,000 will be given to Shinde’s family as compensation. The court also recommended the district legal aid authority to consider paying compensation to Shinde’s wife.

On August 23, 2016, constable Vilas Shinde was posted near a petrol pump on SV Road. Around 3.15pm, he stopped a 17-year-old rider for not wearing a helmet. The teenager made a call to Qureshi, who is his brother. Qureshi reached the spot and attacked Shinde with a bamboo stick on the head. After Shinde fell, Qureshi kicked him. Qureshi and his brother continued to assault Shinde and then took the two-wheeler’s keys from the constable’s pocket and fled with the vehicle. Shinde suffered a severe fracture to his skull and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on August 31, 2016.

After a four-year-long trial, the sessions court on Friday observed how the accused hit the constable with a bamboo stick from behind, kicked him on his stomach and fled after taking keys from the victim’s pocket, showing that there was intent to commit the crime.

The court considered the statement of the eyewitness – head constable Sunil Jadhav – who saw the incident and tried to chase the accused until some distance to nab them. Jadhav also took Shinde to the hospital. Qureshi had sought leniency, and also pleaded before the court that he should be allowed to stay in a Mumbai jail after conviction to pursue further education from an institute in the city.

While Qureshi is held guilty of the murder, his younger brother, who was a juvenile at the time of the incident, is facing a separate case. The court has however, ordered to try him as an adult under the new amendment in the Juvenile Justice Act.