Ankit Saxena murder case: Delhi court convicts friend's parents, maternal uncle

New Delhi: Nearly six years after the murder of 23-year-old photographer Ankit Saxena in the Khyala area here, a court has convicted three people, including the parents and maternal uncle of Saxena's female friend, in the case.

The court posted the matter for hearing the arguments on sentencing on January 15.

In the sensational case that shook the national capital on February 1, 2018, Saxena was stabbed to death in broad daylight by the family members of his woman friend with whom he was in a relationship for three years. The woman's family had opposed her relationship with Ankit as the two belonged to different communities.

Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma convicted the parents Akbar Ali and Shahnaj Begum and the maternal uncle Mohammad Salim of the offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention). Begum was also convicted of the charge of voluntarily causing hurt.

"It can be safely concluded that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubts against all the accused persons that (they) in furtherance of their common intention had committed the murder of deceased Ankit Saxena. Therefore, all the accused persons stand convicted for the charge of the offence punishable under Section 302 and 34 of the IPC," the court said.

In a 121-page judgement pronounced on December 23, the court also convicted Begum for the charge of voluntarily causing hurt, saying the prosecution established that the accused assaulted the deceased's mother, when she tried to protect her son.

It also accepted the prosecution's version regarding motive for the murder that the family members were 'unhappy with the friendship or relationship between their daughter and the deceased'.

The court said it was established that because of the friendship, the family members changed their residence but when that also failed to end their relationship, 'on February 1, 2018, all the accused persons in furtherance of their common intention slit the throat of the deceased with a knife'.

It rejected the argument of the defence counsel that the testimonies of the prosecution witness, including the victim's parents, a friend and another eyewitness, were not reliable and untrustworthy.

"Their testimony is consistent and corroborated with the testimony of remaining witnesses, medical and forensic witnesses as well as the objects and documents collected during investigation," the court said.

It also trashed the argument that the accused persons were not aggressors but were only trying to protect their daughter or niece and that as the incident occurred at a public place and in the presence of more than 400 people, non-participation of independent witnesses should lead to adverse inference.

The court said non-joining of public witness was not fatal to the prosecution's case and that the 'entire defence' of the accused persons was 'an afterthought, tutored and guided'.

Noting the deposition of the woman with whom the deceased was having a relationship, the court said Ankit and the woman were friends and had regular telephonic conversation.

"On the date of incident also, according to defence witness 3 (the woman), her friend Ankit came to her rescue. This also reflects the depth of their friendship as the deceased was trying to help her when the same was allegedly required by her," it said.

The relevant witnesses also testified about the manner in which the quarrel occurred, the exact language or words used by the accused persons, the manner in which the victim's throat was slit, the court noted.

Special public prosecutors Vishal Gosain and Rebecca Mammen John appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police.