Srinagar, : Six days after holding two persons guilty in “horrific” case of throwing acid on a 20-year-old law student at Nowshera Srinagar on 11 December 2014, a court here on Tuesday Sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The Principal District and Sessions Court Srinagar Jawad Ahmed announced the verdict in a jam-packed Court this afternoon, according to GNS correspondent.
“After careful consideration of the submissions made by both the sides and having regard to the nature of the attack, the permanent disfiguration caused to the victim by the use of corrosive substance by the convicts in furtherance of criminal conspiracy and the impact of the disfiguration on the future life of the victim both physical and emotional, I find that the convicts do not deserve leniency and no other punishment except the maximum punishment of life imprisonment prescribed under law for their act can do the real and complete justice to the victim,” court said while awarding life sentence to Irshad Amin Wani of Wazirbagh, Srinagar and Mohammed Umer Noor of Bemina who were convicted last week for the “horrific” acid attack on the 20-year-old law student on 11 December 2014.
“The convicts are sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and fine of Rs 5 lakhs each for commission of offence punishable under Section 326-A RPC read with Section 120-B RPC”.
The execution of the sentence shall be subject to the confirmation by the J&K and Ladakh High Court in terms of Section 376 CrPC Svt, 1989, the court said.
The fine, when recovered, the court said, shall be paid to the victim in terms of proviso 1 and 2 of Section 326-A RPC, the court said.
“In default of payment of fine, the convicts shall undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years.
The court also sentenced the duo to 10 years of imprisonment and fine of Rs25,000 each for the offence punishable under Section 120-B RPC (criminal conspiracy). In default of payment of fine, the court said, they shall undergo further imprisonment for one year.
The convicts were also sentenced to imprisonment for three years for offence punishable under Section 201 RPC (destroying evidence) with fine of Rs 10,000 each and in default of such fine they shall undergo further imprisonment for six months. “The sentence awarded to the convicts for different offences shall run concurrently.”
Meanwhile, the court also recommended the case of the victim to the Member Secretary, J&K Legal Service Authority for awarding the maximum compensation to the victim in terms of the J&K Victim Compensation Scheme, 2019.
The court had reserved the verdict on weekend after hearing arguments of Special Public Prosecutor AA Teeli who demanded maximum punishment of life imprisonment for the convicted while counsel representing the duo sought lesser punishment of ten years, considering mitigating circumstances.
On Thursday last, the court held the accused duo—Irshad Ahmad Wani alias Sunny Wazirbagh Srinagar and Muhammad Umar Noor of Bemina Srinagar— guilty of the offence under RPC’s Sections of 326-A (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid), 201 (destroying evidence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).(GNS)
