2 men sentenced to life in jail

Srinagar, Aug 24: A court in Pulwama Saturday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for killing a 21-year-old youth from Pampore after his abduction and demand from his family for a ransom of Rs 1 crore in 2011.

Principal Sessions Judge Pulwama, Naseer Ahmad Dar sentenced Younis Ahmad of Rakhi Shalina Tengan and Javaid Ahmad of Wahabpora Budgam to imprisonment for life for killing Kaleem Qadri of Pampore.

In terms of a judgment, the court delivered on August 17, Younis and Javaid were convicted under Section 302 (Murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).

However, the court acquitted Abid Hussain and his wife Mehjabeena of Tangan Nowgam in the case.

The prime accused Nazar Muhammad of Rakh Shalina Nowgam who escaped from Police custody in 2016 while being taken for treatment to SMHS has already been declared as proclaimed offender and proceedings under Section 512 of CRPC have been initiated against him.

In its judgment on the quantum of punishment, the court today awarded a life sentence to Younis and Javaid for murdering Kaleem.

They were also sentenced to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment for the commission of abduction under Section 364 of RPC. Besides, each of them was awarded 5 years of simple imprisonment for the commission of extortion under section 387 of RPC.

“All the sentences shall run concurrently,” the court said.

However, the court said the execution of the sentence of life imprisonment would be subject to confirmation of the High Court under relevant law and it, accordingly, ordered that the entire record be submitted to the High Court.

The court awarded the sentence to the convicts after hearing the Special Public Prosecutor Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar for the State and the counsel representing the convicts.

The Special Public Prosecutor submitted that the convicts had committed an offence which falls in the category of rarest of the rare cases and deserved a sentence of death. On the other hand counsel for the convicts said that the case was not the rarest of the rare cases and life imprisonment may be awarded accordingly.

“It is clear that the extreme penalty of death need not be imposed except in the rarest case of extreme culpability. A death sentence must be imposed when life imprisonment appears to be altogether inadequate punishment. A balance sheet of aggravating and mitigating circumstances has to be drawn up and in doing so the mitigating circumstances have to be accorded full weightage,” the Court said, citing Supreme Court judgments.

The court observed that the mitigating circumstances emerged as the convicts in the case before them were young men of the age of 25 to 30 years and have been in judicial custody since November 2011.

The court also noted that there was nothing on record from which it could be deduced that convicts could not be reformed or rehabilitated or they would prove a menace for the society if not awarded the death penalty.

It also pointed out that there was no direct evidence saying the accused had been convicted based on circumstantial evidence which was one of the mitigating factors and was required to be taken into consideration while awarding the sentence.

“Therefore, keeping in view the entire facts and circumstances of the case, this is not a fit case for inflicting death sentence under Section 302 RPC,” the court said.

Apart from awarding sentences to the convicts, the judgment also underscored that every criminal Court is under a legal duty to apply its mind to the question of compensation to the victim of the crime.

“Mere punishment will not satisfy the victim who has suffered as a result of the commission of the crime. The real victims are his parents. One cannot assess the shock and trauma caused to his parents, near ones and dear ones. No amount of compensation can repair the irreparable loss caused,” the court said.

The court observed that in the instant case, the convicts have been behind bars for the last more than twelve years and a long incarceration had an effect upon their social and economic status.

“In such a situation, convicts cannot be compelled to pay fine or compensation to the victim,” it said. “Under the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013 formulated by the Government of J&K as per SRO 394 of 2013, the victim of the offence can be compensated”.

The court accordingly directed the Member Secretary, J&K Legal Services Authority to release an amount of Rs. 3 lakh as compensation in favour of the parents of the deceased. Prosecution case history

According to police, on October 28, 2011, Javaid Ahmad Qadri of Gousia Colony Pampore lodged a missing report of his son, Kaleem Qadri in Police Station Pampore.

During the investigation, it was found that he had travelled towards Srinagar in his Car Ford Figo bearing registration number JK01Q-1711 at about 5:30 pm after dropping his father at Frestabal.

At about 10:30 pm, the father of Kaleem informed the Police Station that he received a phone call from the mobile number of his son and the caller identified himself as a kidnapper belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit and threatened him not to inform the Police. The kidnapper demanded a ransom of rupees one crore from the father for the release of his son.

Subsequently, a case FIR No. 169/2011 under relevant sections of Law was registered in Police Station Pampore. A joint team of Awantipora and Srinagar Police was constituted to investigate the case.

During the investigation of the case, the finger of suspicion went towards Nazar Muhammad Dar of Rakh Shalina Nowgam who was last seen with Kaleem in the car.

A Police party was dispatched to the residence of Nazar to call him for questioning. During sustained questioning, he revealed that he was a close friend of Kaleem but for some time their relationship was strained.

Nazar developed ill intentions towards Kaleem and hatched a conspiracy along with his brother Younis Ahmad Dar and his friend Javaid Ahmad Bhat to kidnap the deceased and demand ransom from his father.

Acting upon the conspiracy hatched, Nazar lured Kaleem to move towards Srinagar where he promised him to sell his iPad for a good amount. On reaching Lasjan bridge, the other two accomplices namely Javaid and Younis also boarded the Car and moved towards Nowgam. Enroute, Kaleem was strangulated to death in the vehicle with a waist belt which was brought by the accused with them.

Thereafter they moved towards village Wapora of district Budgam and wrapped the dead body in a bed sheet that was already brought by the accused persons along. The accused put the body in the Dickey of the vehicle and moved towards Bemina, Shalteng area to pass the time as they were waiting for the darkness to descend to dispose of the body.

At about 9:30 pm, they brought the body to Sheerbagh Lasjan where it was loaded on a boat and thrown in the middle of the river with some stones tied to it. The car of the deceased was taken to Jawahar Nagar and was parked near Footbridge. After parking the vehicle, the accused made a phone call to the father of Kaleem, telling him that the vehicle was parked near the footbridge. He was also told not to inform the Police and demanded Rs one crore from him as a ransom for which, he said, a call would be made the next morning.

During the investigation, Nazar and Youns made disclosure statements upon which the belongings of the deceased including his iPad and cellphone were recovered and also the body of Kaleem was retrieved from River Jhelum.

After completion of the formalities, the body was handed over to his legal heirs for last rites.