Drug addict murders friend, gets life term

A drug addict has been awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court for killing his handicapped friend for denying him narcotic drugs. Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau passed the sentence on Bantoo, dismissing his plea for leniency. The judge said a person cannot be allowed to kill another to satisfy his physical cravings. 

Considering the international practice of reforming addicts, the court, however, directed the jail superintendent to provide him de-addiction treatment. “It is essential for drug addicts to recognise that their behaviour is on some level a choice and that they can choose differently,” the court said, while refusing Bantoo’s plea for leniency.

The court said the conviction cannot come in the way of reforming and providing de-addiction treatment to those held guilty for heinous crime.

“Across the world, those convicted of addiction-related crimes are ordered into treatment as part of their sentence,” the court said. According to police, 37-year-old Bantoo had murdered his handicapped drug addict friend Shyam after he refused to give him smack in March last year. Both Bantoo and Shyam used to beg near Mahender Park in north-west Delhi.