New Delhi: A court here on Thursday awarded rigorous life imprisonment to three people convicted of killing photographer Ankit Saxena in February 2018 over an interfaith love affair, saying death sentence in the case was not justified.
Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma was hearing the case against Akbar Ali and Shahnaz Begum, the parents of Saxena's girlfriend Shehzadi, and maternal uncle Mohammad Salim. "After balancing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, if the court comes to the conclusion that there is a possibility of rehabilitation of the convicts, a death sentence is not justified," the judge said.
Special Public Prosecutors, senior advocate Rebecca Mammen John and Vishal Gosain appeared for the Delhi Police. The court noted that when the crime was committed, Salim was 43 years old, while Ali and Begum were 40 years of age. They have been in judicial custody for around six years, it said.
"They had clean antecedents having no previous involvement. Further, no history of any criminal inclination, drug abuse or any other addiction has been brought on record. Before being arrested in this case, the convicts were living with their families and were well-rooted in society," the court said.It said that along with the magnitude, manner and the purpose of crime, the court had to consider other important factors, including antecedents, age, period of detention and social background of all the convicts.
"Hence, considering the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, age, gender, social background, previous antecedents and the period of custody already undergone as well as their family responsibilities, this court is of the opinion that it is not a fit case for imposition of the death penalty," the judge said.
The court sentenced the three to rigorous life imprisonment for committing the offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention). Imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 on each convict, the court directed that the fine amount be paid to Saxena's mother.
Begum was additionally sentenced to three months' rigorous imprisonment and Rs 1,000 fine under count of voluntarily causing hurt, the court said. The court observed that the death sentence could only be imposed in the "rarest of rare" cases. "The court is not justified in imposing extreme penalty even if, it finds a particular case falling in the category of a rare case. The court has to see whether the case qualifies the category of an extreme form of rarity. In simple words, for imposing death punishment, a case must fall in the highest category of rareness," it said.
On December 23 last year, the court convicted the three accused. In the sensational case that shook the national capital, Saxena was stabbed to death in broad daylight in the Khyala area here by the family members of a woman with whom he had been in a relationship for three years. The woman's family had opposed her relationship with Saxena as the two belonged to different communities.
