A local court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for stabbing a 20-year-old street vendor to death after he refused to give them cigarettes on credit.
The victim, Prince, ran a lemonade stall in Sector 82, while his father operated a cigarette stall next to it.
On October 21, 2021, one of the convicts, Bhupinder Singh alias Babli, visited the stall to buy cigarettes. Prince’s father, Mukhtiar Singh, asked him to first clear his outstanding dues of around ₹500. Enraged, Bhupinder manhandled and abused Mukhtiar, forcing Prince and his brother-in-law, Abhay Kumar, to intervene.
Although Bhupinder left after the intervention, he later returned with his associate, Rinku Singh. According to the prosecution, Bhupinder held Prince by the arms while Rinku stabbed him in the abdomen. Prince was rushed to a hospital in Sohana, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
Additional sessions judge Neetika Verma convicted Bhupinder and Rinku under Sections 302 (murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation), read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. They were also awarded two years’ jail for criminal intimidation. All sentences will run concurrently.
The court imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on each convict. In case of payment default, each will have to undergo an additional six months’ behind bars.
Witnesses stand firm during cross-examination
In its judgment, the court relied on the testimonies of Mukhtiar and Abhay, who had witnessed the attack. It noted that both remained firm during cross-examination and that their relationship with the deceased was not, by itself, sufficient reason to discredit their testimony.
The court also relied on the forensic report, which confirmed the presence of human blood on the recovered knife.
The post-mortem report attributed Prince’s death to haemorrhage and shock resulting from a stab wound that damaged his right kidney. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem stated that the injury was sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.
Rejecting the defence arguments regarding the delay in registering the FIR, the absence of independent witnesses and the non-availability of closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage, the judge held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The court observed that the two convicts had shared a common intention, with one restraining Prince while the other stabbed him.
Plea for leniency rejected
While deciding the sentence, the court rejected the convicts’ plea for leniency on the grounds that they were first-time offenders and their families depended on them. It observed that no special circumstances had been established to warrant a lenient view.