A Delhi court has convicted three persons for clubbing a man to death at Shahbad Dairy in north Delhi last year.
Juvenile among accused
The fourth accused was a juvenile. The case against him was filed before the Juvenile Justice Board.
The prosecution said the main accused in the case is the brother-in-law of the victim’s wife.
Strained relations
The two families had strained relations after the daughter of the accused snatched some items from the victim’s daughter. The relations deteriorated over time and led to the murder.
The incident happened on Holi. The prosecution said the accused caught the victim and started beating him with lathis while he was on the way to his nephew’s house.
The police lodged a case based on the complaint by the victim’s nephew. He was also a prosecution witness in the case. The victim’s wife also deposed in the trial.
The victim’s wife said in her evidence, “Bablu [the main accused] is my sister’s husband. Bablu’s daughter had snatched something from my daughter’s hand. Due to this, an altercation took place between my husband and Bablu, and the relations got strained. Since then, they were not on talking terms and Bablu wanted to kill my husband over this.”
The court admitted the motive of the crime as told by the witness.
“In my opinion, the prosecution has been able to prove the guilt of the accused persons. The testimony of the witnesses also shows that accused Ram Padarth and the juvenile blocked victim Girdhari’s way when he was going to Pankaj’s [his nephew’s] house. They did not allow him to go to Pankaj’s house. There is no cross examination of the victim’s wife on this point,” Additional Sessions Judge V.K. Bansal said while convicting the accused.
“Keeping in view all these evidence and the above discussion, I hold the accused persons guilty. Accused Ram Padarth is held guilty and convicted under Section 341 [wrongfully retraining any person] read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. All the three accused persons are also held guilty and convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code,” the judge said.