Nitish Katara killers escape gallows, get 30-year jail

HC increases prison time for destruction of evidence

The Delhi High Court on Friday enhanced the life sentence awarded to Vikas Yadav and Vishal Yadav to 25-year-imprisonment without remission and an additional five years for destruction of evidence in the “honour killing” of Nitish Katara in 2002.

The court held that the murder of Katara, who was in love with Vikas’ sister, was an “honour killing” done in a very “carefully planned and premeditated” manner with “extreme vengeance”. Yadavs’ acquaintance Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehelwan, who was absconding and arrested in 2005, was also given an enhanced life sentence of 20 years without remission.

The court also held that the crime fell under “rarest of rare category” but saved them from the gallows saying possibility of their reformation and rehabilitation is not “unforeseeably foreclosed”.

A special bench of Justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha not only decided to enhance the sentence awarded by the trial court, but also hiked the fines imposed on Vikas and Vishal by slapping an amount of Rs 54 lakh each on them. The penalty should be deposited in the trial court within six weeks.

Of this, Rs 50 lakh and Rs 10 lakh would be disbursed to Delhi and UP governments, while Rs 40 lakh would be given to Nitish’s mother, Neelam Katara, who has said that a “numerical figure” cannot be affixed to her son’s life and she will not accept the money. 

Vikas and Vishal will have to spend another 19 years and 18 years, respectively, behind the bars. Sukhdev will have to remain in jail for nearly 16 years.

The bench said the jail terms should run without remission, saying if the imprisonment were to be remitted after 14 years as per CrPC provisions, “the sentence would really be inconsequential and completely inadequate....in the instant case”.

“The actions of the defendants manifest disrespect of human body, brutalisation and its burning displays depraved state of mind and lack of remorse, all of which are aggravating factors,” it said. 

Vikas (39), Vishal (37) and Sukhdev (40) were serving life term awarded by the lower court in May 2008 for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and son of a railway officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they opposed the victim’s affair with Bharti, daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav.