Delhi HC sets aside trial court order, awards 7-yr jail to man

The Delhi High Court today set aside a trial court's order of life imprisonment to a man for killing a person and instead awarded a seven-year jail term for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta diluted the charges and set aside the order of the trial court which had awarded life term to Ajay Malhotra and Rahul Kohli for killing Mukesh and indulging in rioting with others after the victim demanded Rs 2,200 which the duo owed him.
The bench, however, acquitted Kohli saying no role has been attributed to him in the incident.

It also said that by looking at the evidence, the court found it difficult to conclusively determine as to what was the "origin of the fight".
"Whatever it may be, the fact of the matter is that no unlawful assembly was formed by appellants Ajay and Rahul and their associates to murder the victim," the bench said, adding that except Mukesh, no one from his side was injured.
"The appeal is disposed of setting aside the conviction of second appellant Rahul who being on bail...

"The first appellant Ajay is convicted for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder pertaining to the death of Mukesh and for which offence we sentence him to imprisonment for the period already undergone," the bench said.

According to the police, on 2007, Mukesh and 11 others were engaged by the accused persons to perform some work in connection with a marathon race organised at the Nehru Stadium here.
The accused attacked the victim after he demanded disbursement of the wages, they said.
The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Ajay and Rahul, besides the life term, after holding them guilty of murder and other offences under the IPC.
While convicting them, the trial court had relied upon the statements of two witnesses Rajnish and Sanju who had seen the accused attacking the victim along with five of their juvenile associates near Shadipur Metro station here on March 18, 2007.

The prosecution had submitted that the accused stabbed Mukesh resulting in his death.
It had examined 23 witnesses to prove its charges in the case.