Two juveniles sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each for killing a youth

The victim was the only son of his parents. His father Tej Pal works in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research’s sanitation department.

Chandigarh

July 7, 2018

Two juveniles, who stabbed to death an 18-year-old man at Sector 25 market in August 2016, were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each by the juvenile court of Chandigarh on Saturday. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 600 each on the convicts. The accused were arrested after a CCTV footage of the incident went viral. The two have been sentenced to imprisonment under sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code.

The juveniles were granted bail after furnishing bonds in the court on Saturday.

The victim was the only son of his parents. His father Tej Pal works in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research’s sanitation department. The incident occurred in August 2016 when the victim, Vikas, was at the Sector 25 market along with two friends. When he was about to leave, a youth started beating him up. Though he tried to run away, a group of youths caught him within seconds and pounced on him with sharp weapons. When Vikas fell on the ground, he was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, back and head. A passer-by intervened but the attackers managed to flee, leaving the victim bleeding. The victim was rushed to Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) Sector 16, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to injuries. Police then registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC at Sector 11 PS in Chandigarh.

During investigation, nine persons, including Kuldeep, Vishal, Vikas alias Polcia and Raju and five juveniles, were arrested initially. Later, when the juvenile court declared three of the five juveniles as major, only two juveniles were tried in the juvenile court while the other seven were tried in the Chandigarh district court.

According to police, the accused were arrested after the police received vital clues about the incident from the CCTV footage. The accused were apprehended from the jungle area of Sector 25. They were all residents of Sector 25, Chandigarh. Police had learnt that there was an old enmity of the victim with the accused youths which led to the murder. The victim was involved in a brawl with the accused earlier as well, following which they planned to assault him. Vikas had entered into a brawl with the other group following which a cross-case was also registered against him at Sector 11 PS following which Vikas had returned home from jail just 15 days before his murder.

During the trial, the counsel for defence, Rohit Mahajan, argued in court that the juveniles had been falsely implicated in the case as one of them was the brother of an accused Kuldip because of which the juvenile was also held by the police among the nine arrested. It was also argued that the victim was a history-sheeter and several criminal cases were pending against him in the juvenile court.

After hearing the arguments and going by evidence, the court held the duo guilty and sentenced them to imprisonment for three years. Mahajan said they would appeal against the order in the sessions court.