HC refuses relief to man who killed homosexual client

The Delhi High Court has dismissed the appeal of a man against the life sentence awarded to him by a trial court for killing a person who was homosexual and used to avail of his services.

A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta Aug 4 upheld the trial court's order awarding life term to Niranjan Kumar, who was allegedly a sex worker and murdered the man in a hotel in Dec 2005.

Kumar and his accomplice Anand Kishore killed a manager of Shangri-la hotel over a dispute concerning Rs.40,000 which the manager had taken from them on the pretext of giving them jobs.

The court said that it was evident that when the manager died, Kumar and Kishore were with him.

The bench held that there was enough evidence that the manager had indulged in homosexual activity before his death and Kumar was with him at that time.

The bench turned down the testimonies of the manager's wife and daughter who denied that he was homosexual.

"They (wife and daughter of manager) denied that he was a homosexual in their testimonies for the reason in Indian society it is highly improbable that a wife/daughter would admit to her husband/father being a homosexual because of the social stigma attached to homosexuality in India," said the court in its recent order.

The bench took into consideration the testimonies of witnesses that confirmed that the manager was homosexual.

The witnesses deposed that the manager had developed intimacy with Kumar and Anand Kishore and had sexual relations with them.

The high court in April 2014 acquitted Anand Kishore noting that he was a juvenile at that time and had already undergone a sentence of more than eight years.

The trial court in 2011 awarded life imprisonment to Kumar against which he had moved the high court.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

gt/vip/bg