Five jailed for 10 yrs each for battering man to death

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau held the five guilty of unintentional killing and refused to show any mercy to them saying they took the life of a young man for their "false regional pride".

"Such a madness is highly deplorable and totally unacceptable in the courts of law. A widow mother has lost her young son aged 24 years to sheer madness and false regional pride.

"How can one ruin the life of another and plead for mercy? There is no place for this kind of a madness arising out of false egos and prides in any civilised society," the court said.

It also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the five convicts stipulating that, if recovered, the amount shall be given to the victim's mother.

The incident took place in 2008 in North West Delhi area when victim Jaswant and his friend Pradeep had gone out for having a glass of fruit juice and had a verbal altercation with Pramod, a road side juice vendor and an accused in the case, who called his four other friends and attacked them.

Police said Jaswant and Pradeep had reportedly made some references regarding Bihar to which Pramod belonged and this led to a full-fledged brawl with four friends of Pramod - Brijesh Kumar, Subhash Kumar, Putul Kumar and Vipin Kumar, all from Bihar, joining him and attacking Jaswant and Pradeep.

The five kicked and punched and battered the victims with sticks resulting into Jaswant's death and grave injuries to Pradeep, it said. (More)