Taking a lenient view towards two youths in a robbery case, a Delhi court ordered their release, observing that the crime was committed as they were in dire need of money for treatment of the mother of one of them who was HIV positive and later died and they had already spent one year in jail.
"Poverty is a big curse for humanity and in my considered opinion these youngsters have already suffered enough on account of their continued incarceration after their arrest," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said, adding an "exception" could be made in the case.
The court said convicts Arjun, 23, and Dharmender, 24, were good friends and circumstances which compelled them to plan the offence was the life threatening condition of Arjun's mother who died as she could not get proper treatment for her disease due to lack of money.
"There are strong chances of their reformation and any harsh view by this court at this stage would spoil their entire future and hence a lenient view is taken against the convicts," the judge said.
The court also said that this was a case where it found that it should be treated as an "exception" and a lenient view should be taken against Arjun and Dharmender who were young and self employed at the time of the incident and belonged to poor families. They have been no previous history of crime.
The court sentenced the duo to imprisonment of one year and 18 days which they have already spent behind bars. It also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 and Rs 500 on Arjun and Dharmender respectively.
According to the prosecution, on December 26, 2012, Arjun and Dharmender had conspired to rob Rs 4.15 lakh cash of PP Jewellers, Karol Bagh.
When complainant Mukesh, who was working as a field boy with PP Jewellers at Karol Bagh, reached Keshav Puram, Arjun robbed him of Rs 4.15 lakh using a pistol and the robbery was facilitated by Dharmender, an employee of the jewellers.
When the incident took place, Dharmender was also with Mukesh and he had insisted that the victim hand over the bag containing money to Arjun, police said.
