New Delhi: Six years after they murdered West Delhi resident Ankit Saxena in a hate crime, the three convicts escaped capital punishment because of their clean past. Despite concluding that the trio killed Ankit brutally, a sessions court did not deem it fit to send them to gallows as their offence did not fall within the ambit of ‘rarest of rare’ cases, a principle that is followed to sentence a convict to death.
“So, along with magnitude, manner and the purpose of crime, the court has to consider other important factors, like antecedents, age, period of detention and social background of all the convicts,” Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma wrote in his order Thursday.
“After balancing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, if the court comes to the conclusion that there is possibility of rehabilitation of the convicts, the death sentence is not justified.”
The trio of Akbar Ali, Shahnaj Begum and Mohd. Salim — the father, mother and uncle of the girl with whom Ankit, 23, was in a relationship — were handed life imprisonment after they were convicted under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.
A photographer by profession, Ankit was near his house in Raghubir Nagar area when he was attacked fatally by the family of his 18-year-old Muslim girlfriend on the night of 1 February 2018.
Police arrested all the three accused and filed charge sheet in April that year, while the court took cognisance of the charge sheet in May. The arguments in the case concluded in December.
The court convicted the three for murder and common intention. Additionally, Shahnaj Begum was held guilty for voluntarily causing hurt to Ankit’s mother Kamlesh.
‘Hands locked, throat slit from behind’
In his order, the judge wrote that Ankit’s parents Yashpal and Kamlesh along with his friend Anmol Singh gave details of the entire scene of crime in their testimonies.
“The testimony of PW-22 (Anmol), PW-2 (Yashpal) and PW-17 (Kamlesh) shows that these witnesses have not only testified that the deceased was killed by all the accused persons by slitting his throat with a knife but they have also testified about the manner in which, the quarrel had taken place, the exact language/words/phrases used by the accused persons, the manner in which the deceased was apprehended/caught by the accused persons and how the throat of the deceased was cut by the accused persons with knife,” the order reads.
Ankit first told Anmol that his throat was slit and that he was bleeding profusely, it said, adding that another witness Nitin, a friend of the victim, was warned not to intervene.
The testimony of these witnesses also shows that one of the trio was abusing the deceased for hurting their “pride” and not leaving their “girl” behind, the court order said.
The judge also noted the role of a minor — the son of Akbar Ali and Shahnaj Begum —who was apprehended in connection with the case.
The minor was sent to an observation home by the Juvenile Justice Board.
The court observed that the prosecution was able to prove the motive behind the murder and added that the accused were “unhappy” with Ankit’s relationship with the girl.
‘Contradictory’ testimony of girl
Notably, the police had not listed Ankit’s girlfriend as a prosecution witness despite her awareness of the chain of events as testified by Nitin.
The judge noted that the prosecution did neither examine nor listed her as witness despite the investigating officer questioning her.
Deposing as a defence witness, she told the court that Ankit’s friends Nitin and Anmol were trying to force her to get into a Santro car and that Ankit came to the spot after hearing her cry for help.
She further alleged that Nitin and Anmol had a fight with Ankit and that then she called up her father and both of them fell on the ground when Nitin pushed her father. She went on to claim that when she got up she noticed blood oozing out of Ankit’s throat.
The judge, however, noted the contradiction in her testimony as none of the accused had confessed to having been on the crime spot and nor did Nitin have any Santro car.
Sequence of events & eyewitness accounts
Ankit and his girlfriend knew each other since Class IV and fell in love when they were in Class XI. On the fateful evening of 1 February 2018, the girl had left her house after allegedly locking her father and brother at home.
Akbar Ali was irked by this act of his daughter, called up his wife and brother-in-law Salim and wanted to end the issue, according to the Delhi Police’s charge sheet.
Ali, in his statement to the police, said that he left home with his butcher knife and was aware that his daughter must have gone to meet Ankit. Salim and Ali went on to attack Ankit around 8 pm.
According to the statement given to the police by Nitin, which was included in the charge sheet, Nitin received a call from Anmol about the attack. “‘Ankit’s throat has been slit; where are you?’” Nitin recalled being told by Anmol.
On reaching the site, Nitin found the girl’s relatives assaulting Ankit.
The statement further mentions that Ankit somehow whispered in Nitin’s ears that the girl was waiting at Tagore Garden metro station and that he should take her to the nearest police station where he would join them in five minutes.
Upon reaching the metro station, Nitin informed the girl that her family had stabbed Ankit and that he was taken to hospital. In the ensuing time, Ankit’s family took him to Guru Gobind Singh Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Later, Nitin took the girl to the Khyala police station.
The Delhi Police had listed 32 witnesses in the case that had rocked the national capital in 2018. As communal tension threatened to erupt in Raghubir Nagar Colony, Ankit’s father Yashpal Saxena had come out with a message to the people — refrain from making “inflammatory statements.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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