The court relied on the testimony of the woman as well as her family members who deposed that Yadav had stalked and harassed her on multiple occasions. Observing that there is a need to set an example before the youth to accept rejection, a sessions court earlier this week sentenced a 24-year-old man to seven years in jail for stabbing a woman after she refused his advances.
“Even after stringent amendment in the criminal law brought in courts with an intent to save girls from being victimised, assaulted and threatened by assailants, girls are assaulted with weapons by pouring acid or petrol, by stabbing them when they refuse to accept such persons and their one-sided love. The youth of this generation take rejection as the end of their whole world, not able to handle rejection takes a toll on one’s mental health,” Additional Sessions Judge H C Shende said.
The matter related to an incident from September 2015 when a 21-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times by Aashishkumar Yadav, who attacked her with a kitchen knife while she was cooking.
The court relied on the testimony of the woman as well as her family members who deposed that Yadav had stalked and harassed her on multiple occasions. The family had warned him once, following which he went to his native town but had returned a few days before the incident and begun harassing the woman again.
On the day of the incident, when he was reprimanded for sitting near the woman’s home, he decided to seek revenge. In the evening, when the woman was alone at home, Yadav entered the house and stabbed her.
Claiming that he was falsely implicated, Yadav had said that he and the woman were in a relationship and her family was opposed to it. He also alleged that the woman’s injuries were inflicted by her family members and that he, too, had sustained injuries on a previous occasion.
The court said that while there was no evidence for these claims made by the accused, the evidence presented by the victim was “confidence inspiring”.
It held the accused guilty under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 452 (house trespassing after preparation to cause hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. It also directed that compensation of Rs 15,000 be paid to the woman.
“In my opinion, these are not only an attack on life of the victims, but also an attack on feminism… there is a need that our society sets an example before the youth to accept rejection,” the court said.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
