Kupwara Court sentences man to life in jail for murder

Srinagar, June 29: The Principal Sessions Court in Kupwara Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for a murder he committed 14 years ago.

The Principal Sessions Judge Kupwara Shazia Tabasum awarded a life sentence to Sajad Ahmad Sheikh after convicting him of the murder of Muhammad Ashraf Lone son of Ghulam Nabi Lone of Alachizab Kupwara on August 8, 2010.

The court also imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on Sheikh.

The history of the case revealed that Lone’s body had been recovered from a paddy field near Machergund Nalla, Sogam in north Kashmir’s Kupwara.

In the judgment, the court underscores how greed snatched the sole bread earner of a family and desolated it.

“The case unfolds that yet another human life suffered homicidal death on August 8, 2010, for greed, which made a family lose its sole earning source. A wife lost her husband, children lost their loving father, as gets reflected from the prosecution case in terms of the final report, which came to be laid before this Court on October 20, 2010,” the court said.

Sheikh had murdered Lone by giving a blow on his head with a big stick and “inflicting two blows of the knife on his abdomen”

“I think that the circumstances pitted by the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused are established beyond reasonable doubt and all the circumstances unerringly point towards the guilt of the accused and the circumstances taken cumulatively form a complete chain,” the judge said handing down the sentence.

The court underscored that there was no escape from the conclusion that the homicidal death of the deceased was committed on August 8, 2010, by the accused in Machergund Forests and after committing the murder he left the dead body and threw the weapon of offence – knife - in the Nalla, which was afterwards recovered upon the disclosure statement of the accused.

After convicting Sheikh, the court sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life for the commission of offence under Section 302 (murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code ( RPC), now replaced by the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh on him.

“In case of default of payment of fine the Convict shall further undergo sentence of hard labour until the fine amount is satisfied,” the court.

Moreover, the court ordered that the amount of fine, if realized, shall go to the victim's family of the deceased.

The court concluded after hearing the prosecution and the defence counsel.

The prosecution contended that the Sheikh was in a trust relation with Lone but he breached that trust and as such maximum punishment be awarded to him.

On the other hand, defence counsel sought life imprisonment for the convict with the contention that he is of the age group of 30 and has suffered an incarceration of over 14 years.