24-year-old man to spend life in jail for killing friend

 A city court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to a youth convicted for murdering his friend.

The court gave the life sentence to Bihar resident Mohammed Alam, 24, after refusing the prosecution’s plea to award a death penalty. The court held that the case does not come under the “rarest of rare” category.

“After considering the age, character and antecedents of Alam and the circumstances in which the murder was committed, I am of the view that this case does not fall within the ambit of the rarest of rare cases,” said Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Goyal.

“The sentence of life imprisonment is imposed under section 302 (murder) of the IPC with a fine of Rs 5,000,” he added.

Alam had killed his friend Satish, on March 20, 2010. Satish was his friend. The body was found near a railway track two days later. His cellphone and wrist watch were missing.

Police arrested Alam after tracking the victim’s cellphone. The post-mortem report revealed that Satish died of organ failure after suffering internal injuries caused by hard kicks. He was also hit by a hard plastic pipe, which was recovered near his body.

Alam denied the charges initially, but was held guilty after police showed the cellphone records.

Youth gets 20 years

A youth, who had murdered a man after robbing him of
Rs 2.5 lakh at gun-point and injured his son, has been sentenced to 20 years by a Delhi court.

The judge said he was a “desperate” criminal for whom life has no value.

Terming the case as “rare”, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said 29-year-old Anil Kumar will not be granted any remission till he undergoes an actual sentence of 20 years in jail. He also imposed a fine of Rs 22,000.

The court held the Haryana native guilty of murdering Krishan Kumar Bansal and injuring his son two years ago. 

“I am of a considered opinion that this case cannot be put on the same pedestal as other ordinary murder cases.

It is also true that punishment in every case does send a message to the community at large. Hence, this case can be easily classified as a rare case that calls for the exercise of alternative options by the court,” the judge said.

He refused leniency to Kumar, saying the court cannot ignore conditions prevailing in the country where “law and order has deteriorated”.

 “Young persons are robbing people by indiscriminate use of dangerous weapons whether or not they offer any resistance, thereby spreading terror in society and affecting peace and faith of people in the system. He had killed an earning member of a family and injured his son,” Justice Lau said.