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Saturday, May 31, 2008
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“Life imprisonment is the deterrent”

Prashant Pandey

Judge also sentences Vikas and Vishal Yadav to 10-year RI for kidnapping Nitish Katara

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

COURSE OF LAW: Vikas Yadav, who was sentenced to life in the Nitish Katara murder case, being escorted by policemen at the Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: A court here on Friday sentenced prime accused Vikas Yadav, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav, and his cousin and co-accused, Vishal Yadav, to rigorous life imprisonment in the high-profile Nitish Katara murder case.

Additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur said: “It is not the death penalty [which acts as a deterrent] … in which a person is hanged to death in a few seconds. On the contrary, it is the life imprisonment wherein the convict dies every moment in the jail [which acts as a deterrent].”

The court slapped a fine of Rs.1 lakh each on both the convicts. The judge also sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 each for kidnapping.

In addition, the court sentenced them to five years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs.10,000 each for destruction of evidence. All the sentences would run concurrently.

Neelam satisfied

While Nitish’s mother Neelam Katara expressed satisfaction with the sentence, Mr. D.P. Yadav said injustice was done to his son and nephew. The defence would move the High Court against the conviction.

The defence and the prosecution argued for nearly 90 minutes on the sentence. Defence counsel K.N. Balgopal said the accused were young, educated and there was scope for reform.

Mr. Balgopal pointed out that in the Jessica Lal murder case, where there was direct evidence and there were eyewitnesses, the court awarded life imprisonment to the convicts. In the present case, the evidence was largely circumstantial, he said.

Defence counsel also argued that the offence was committed due to “emotional disturbance” as the convict was not happy with his sister’s relationship with the deceased. He also pointed out that only one hammer blow was inflicted on the victim that led to his death.

Agreeing with this contention, the judge said: “I cannot lose sight of the fact that there were three accused but only one injury was found on the person of the deceased … which is a great mitigating circumstance in favour of the convicts.” He said destruction of evidence by burning the body was a separate offence under Section 201 of the IPC.

Special Public Prosecutor B.S. Joon said the offence fell under the rarest of the rare category on two counts — the manner in which it was committed and the motive.

Mr. Joon said the murder was brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and dastardly and that when the offence was committed, the victim was defenceless. He said it was a planned, cold-blooded murder.

On Wednesday, the court convicted Vikas and Vishal in the six-year-old case. The prosecution alleged that Nitish, son of an IAS officer, was kidnapped from outside a marriage venue at Kavi Nagar on the night of February 16-17, 2002, in Ghaziabad by the accused and then killed.

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