HC upholds man's life sentence for killing step-son

The life sentence awarded by a trial court to a man for killing his four-year-old step-son has been upheld by the Delhi High Court which said the convict's motive was "not to keep" the child with him. Dismissing the appeal filed by Hardayal Singh, a resident from Khyala in Tilak Nagar area in West Delhi, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Siddharth Mridul said, "We do not find any infirmity in the judgement of conviction and order of sentence recorded by the trial judge and, accordingly, the appeal, being devoid of substance, stands dismissed. "In the present case, motive behind the alleged crime has been set up to be the fact that the deceased was the step-son of the appellant and on account of that the appellant was not happy to keep the child with him." The court relied upon the testimony of victim's mother who had complained to police that Singh was unhappy about her son, from her first husband, staying with them. In her statement, she further said Singh used to beat her son and also pick up quarrels. He even asked her to send the child to her parents' house which was she had opposed. Accepting the prosecution's claim that the child was last seen in the company of Singh, the bench said, "We are of the considered opinion that all the circumstances which have been established by the prosecution complete the chain and irresistibly point towards the guilt of the appellant. "There can be no shadow of doubt that the circumstances have been proven beyond reasonable doubt." According to the FIR, on the evening of November 6, 2006, Singh had taken the child on his two-wheeler for a ride but returned home without him. Three days after, the child's body was recovered by police following the disclosure statement made by Singh.