Court releases chain snatcher on probation

Taking a lenient view towards a youth who was awarded one year jail term by a trial court for snatching a gold chain from a woman, a sessions court here has released him on probation in the 2007 case.
Additional Sessions Judge V K Khanna released 28-year-old Sanjay, who had already spent two months in jail during the eight-year-long trial, saying the convict has repented his action and is not a previous offender, so he deserved an opportunity to reform.
"Having regard to the totality of facts and circumstances and particularly the fact that Sanjay has already undergone two months in custody and that he has repented his act... coupled with the fact that he is not a previous convict...H e should be given opportunity to reform and rehabilitate himself in the society and to become a responsible citizen of State," the judge said.

The court, which upheld his conviction, also relied on the report of the probationary officer that Sanjay is having a positive attitude towards healthy social life and no anti-social behaviour was noticed.
"Therefore, it is deemed expedient in the interest of justice to release appellant (Sanjay) on probation instead of sentencing him. He is ordered to be released on furnishing bonds of probation in a sum of Rs 20,000 with one surety of like amount for a period of one year," it said.
The court also directed Sanjay to deposit Rs 5,000 in the trial court towards costs of the prosecution proceedings.

The convict, who was 20-year-old at the time of incident, pleaded before the sessions court that he was not a previous offender and had regularly appeared before trial court during protracted trial of eight years and no other criminal case has been registered against him.

According to the prosecution, on 29th December, 2006, Sanjay, a resident of Shastri Nagar here, along with another person Ramesh, snatched a gold chain from a woman's neck and tried to flee but were apprehended by police when she raised an alarm.
The duo was booked under sections 356(assault in attempt to commit theft of property carried by a person) and 411 (dishonestly possessing stolen property) of IPC.

Ramesh died during the pendency of trial, and Sanjay was held guilty for offences by a trial corut in March this year.
The court, while modifying the sentence order of the trial court, said Sanjay had failed to establish his version that he was falsely implicated and that evidence on record established that he used criminal force on the woman to commit theft of gold chain worn by her.