Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 4

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sumit Makkar has convicted three persons on the charges of kidnapping a nine-year-old boy, Robinpreet Singh, and wrongully confining him with the intention to force him for begging. They were ordered to undergo imprisonment for three years each.

Those convicted are Bhola Nath, a resident of Abohar Road, Muktsar, Balram Singh, hailing from Jharkhand, and Sunil Singh of Shalimar Bagh, Delhi.

“The court is of the opinion that no leniency can be granted in such offences. Further, after giving careful thought to the plea made by the convicts viz-a-viz the gravity of the offence proved to have been committed by them, the court is not inclined to be unduly lenient towards them,” observed the court while declining the plea of leniency raised by the accused.

Additional public prosecutor Monika Gupta apprised that a case against them was registered on May 17, 2018, at the Sahnewal police station.

Sub-inspector Simranjit Kaur, along with other police officials, was on patrolling duty in the vicinity of Sahnewal Chowk, Ludhiana, on May 17, 2018. She received a tip-off that four persons wearing saffron clothes were seen with a boy, aged 9-10 years, who was also wearing saffron clothes. It seemed that the boy was afraid of something and anxious. The accused were seen begging in the vicinity of Sahnewal Bus Stand. They had kidnapped and kept the boy in illegal custody for begging.

Later, the police swung into action and rescued the boy from the clutches of the accused.