Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Two days after holding two persons guilty in the 2014 acid attack on a law student, a Srinagar court on Saturday reserved its verdict over the quantum of punishment for Tuesday, Aug. 22. The Principal District and Sessions Court Srinagar Jawad Ahmed on Thursday held the accused duo identified as Irshad Amin Wani alias Sunny, a resident of 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).
During the hearing today, the victim's lawyer, Abdul Aziz Teli, demanded a life sentence for the accused, while Imran, the accused's lawyer, pressed for a ten-year sentence for the accused given the mitigating circumstance. Accused's lawyer Imran claimed that accused Irshad “got higher education while in jail and now helps other prisoners as well. He has wasted 9 years of his life in jail and at home."
Also read: J&K: Srinagar Court finds man guilty in acid attack case after nine years
The defene lawyer further said that the elderly parents of Irshad had nobody to look after them. To this the victim's lawyer said that the nine years of both the accused were ruined because of themselves “and the whole life of the victim was ruined because of them (accused)”. After hearing all the arguments, the judge gave an opportunity to the victim woman and the two accused.
The victim claimed that she had to undergo 28 surgeries so far and will have more surgeries in coming months. “These surgeries have cost Rs 38 lakh so far. I was a college topper and today I am disabled only because of them. My father has had three heart attacks in the past years and all our savings were spent on treatment,” she said.
She said that the legal cell helped her financially during the course of the trial. She further said, "I believed that they have reformed. (But) they have been threatening me continuously. They are even proposing for marriage. They should get nothing less than life imprisonment," she said. The case dates back to 2014 when the woman, 20 at the time, was attacked with the acid by the two accused at Nowshera Srinagar on 11 December 2014.
The police within 15 days charged the two accused under Sections 326A, 120B and 201 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
