Srinagar- A court in Pulwama on Saturday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for murdering a youth in Pampore area of the south Kashmir district in 2011.
The Principal Sessions Judge Pulwama, Naseer Ahmad Dar had convicted the duo—Younis Ahmad Dar and Javaid Ahmad Bhat, both residents of Rakh Shalina Tangan Nowgam Budgam—on August 17 for killing the youth, Kaleem Qadri of Pampore, after demanding ransom of Rs 1 crore.
“…keeping in view the entire facts and circumstances of the case, this is not a fit case for inflicting death sentence under Section 302 RPC. Hence it will be just and proper to sentence the convicts namely Younis Ahmad Dar and Javaid Ahmad Bhat to imprisonment for life under Section 302 RPC,” the court said.
It also sentenced the convicts to imprisonment for life under Section 120-B RPC and 7 years each rigorous imprisonment for commission of abduction in order to commit murder under section 364 RPC.
Further, the court sentenced the convicts to 5 years each of simple imprisonment for commission of extortion under section 387 RPC.
However, the court ordered that all the sentences shall run concurrently.
“Every criminal Court is also under a legal duty to apply its mind to the question of compensation to the victim of the crime,” the court said , adding, “The deceased was a young boy of around 21 years of age at the time of his death who was undergoing his studies and was the lone son of his parents. The criminal justice System has to address the plight of the victim also. Mere punishment will not satisfy the victim who has suffered as a result of commission of the crime.”
The real victims, the court said, are his parents. “One cannot assess the shock and trauma caused to his parents, near and dear ones. No amount of compensation can repair the irreparable loss caused,” the court said, and referred to a judgment by the Supreme Court in Manohar Singh Vs. State of Rajasthan AIR 2015 which compensation has held to be integral to just sentencing.
“In the instant case, the convicts have been behind the bars for the last more than twelve years and a long incarceration has an effect upon their social and economic status, in such a situation, convicts cannot be compelled to pay fine or compensation to the victim but under the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013 formulated by the Government of J&K, as per SRO 394 of 2013, the victim of the offence can be compensated,” the court said, adding, “The occurrence has taken place on 28-10-2011 and the scheme applicable to the case of the victim is as per SRO 394 dated 09-09-2013. Therefore, the Member Secretary, J&K Legal Services Authority, shall release an amount of Rs. 3.00 lacs as compensation in favour of the parents of the deceased.”
On August 17 last, in a detailed judgment running 233 pages, the court had acquitted two other accused— Abid Hussain Bhat and his wife MahaJabina of Tangan Nowgam in the case. Also, the prime accused, Nazar Muhammad Dar of Rakh Shalina Nowgam who escaped from police custody in 2016 while being taken for treatment to SMHS has already been declared as proclaimed offender and proceedings under section 512 of CRPC stand initiated against him.
According to police, on October 28, 2011 Javaid Ahmad Qadri of Gousia Colony Pampore lodged a missing report of his son, Kaleem Qadri in Police Station Pampore. During the investigation it was found that he had travelled towards Srinagar in his Car Ford Figo bearing registration number JK01Q-1711 at about 5:30 PM after dropping his father at Frestabal.
At about 10:30 PM, father of Kaleem informed the Police Station that he received a phone call from the mobile number of his son and the caller identified himself as a kidnapper belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit and threatened him not to inform the Police. The kidnapper demanded a ransom of rupees one crore from the father for the release of his son.
Subsequently a case FIR No. 169/2011 under relevant sections of Law was registered in Police Station Pampore. A joint team of Awantipora and Srinagar Police was constituted to investigate the case.
During investigation of the case, the finger of suspicion went towards Nazar Muhammad Dar of Rakh Shalina Nowgam who was last seen with Kaleem in the car.
A Police party was dispatched to the residence of Nazar to call him for questioning. During sustained questioning, he revealed that he was a close friend of Kaleem but for some time their relationship was strained.
Nazar developed ill intentions towards Kaleem and hatched a conspiracy along with his brother Younis Ahmad Dar and his friend Javaid Ahmad Bhat to kidnap the deceased and demand ransom from his father.
Acting upon the conspiracy hatched, Nazar lured Kaleem to move towards Srinagar where he promised him to sell his I-Pad for a good amount. On reaching Lasjan bridge, the other two accomplices namely Javaid and Younis also boarded the Car and moved towards Nowgam. Enroute, Kaleem was strangled to death in the vehicle with a waist belt which was brought by the accused with them.
Thereafter they moved towards village Wapora of district Budgam and wrapped the dead body in a bed sheet that was already brought by the accused persons along. The accused put the body in the dickey of the vehicle and moved towards Bemina, Shalteng area to pass the time as they were waiting for the darkness to descend, so as to dispose of the body.
Further police said that at about 9:30 PM they brought the body at Sheerbagh Lasjan where it was loaded on a boat and thrown in the middle of the river with some stones tied with it. The car of the deceased was taken to Jawahar Nagar and was parked near the FootBridge, the police said.
After parking the vehicle, the accused made a phone call to the father of the kaleem, telling him that the vehicle was parked near a footbridge. He was also told not to inform the Police and demanded Rs one crore from him as ransom for which, he said, a call would be made next morning.
During the investigation Nazar and Younis made disclosure statements upon which the belongings of the deceased including his I- Pad, cell phone etc and the same were recovered and also the body of Kaleem was retrieved from river Jehlum.
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