Two youths get seven-yr jail for robbing woman's gold chain

Two youths, who had robbed a woman of her gold chain on knife point and injured her by dragging her, have been sent to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court which said they were "desperadoes".
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau awarded the jail term to 28-year-old Ajay and 25-year-old Arjun, noting that 41 and 37 criminal cases, respectively were pending against them.
The court also expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order condition in the national capital and said immediate steps were required to be taken to ensure security and safety of the citizens.
"Instances of young persons getting involved in criminal activities of robbing innocent persons by putting them under threat of death, are also on rise.

"Criminals are unhesitatingly and indiscriminately using dangerous firearms on helpless victims who may or not offer any resistance thereby spreading terror in the society and adversely affecting social order and the faith of people in the system," the court said.
"The manner in which the offence has been committed in broad daylight coupled with their track record shows that both the convicts are desperadoes who have no respect for law and legal process of this country and they have an impression that perhaps the legal system of this country is incompetent to hold them back for their illegal activities," it said.

As per police, the incident took place on February 20 last year in Avantika in North West Delhi when Reena was walking while Ajay and Arjun stopped their motorcycle near her and asked her to give them jewellery, including gold chain and pendant, which she was wearing.

When the woman resisted, they robbed her at knife point and also dragged her with her shawl which she was wearing due to which she suffered injuries, it said.
When the woman raised an alarm, passersby gathered there and caught Ajay who was riding the motorcycle while Arjun managed to flee. Arjun was arrested later on.

During the trial, Ajay and Arjun claimed they were falsely implicated in the case and the prosecution story against them was concocted.
The court while sentencing them said there was no previous animosity between the convicts and victim Reena and the intent was solely monetary gain undue sympathy to the convicts who were habitual and repeat offenders would do more harm to the justice system.
The court also clarified that the punishment of seven years jail to the duo in this case would run consecutively to the sentences awarded to them in other cases.