Nitish Katara case: HC reserves verdict on sentence

The Delhi High today reserved its verdict on the sentence to be awarded to Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav's son Vikas and two others convicted in the over 12-year-old Nitish Katara murder case.
Vikas, his cousin Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehelwan are serving life term for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and son of an IAS officer, on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. They did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of D P Yadav.
"Judgement reserved," a special bench of justices Gita Mittal and and J R Midha said after conclusion of arguments on the sentence on behalf of the prosecution, defence as well as the victim's mother.

The court had been hearing arguments on the punishment to be awarded to the three convicts.
The convicts have sought leniency in sentencing as well as exemption from death sentence saying they can reform and their act was not so brutal or gruesome that it deserves capital punishment.
On the other hand, the victim's mother, Neelam Katara, and the Delhi Police have demanded death for the trio terming their offence to be the rarest of rare.

If not capital punishment, the convicts be handed down an enhanced life sentence, they have contended.
The high court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in the caste system.

Katara was abducted and killed by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev as they did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belong to different castes, the court had said.
The high court had dismissed the appeals of the convicts and kept pending two separate pleas of the state and Neelam Katara seeking death penalty for them.