New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) A Delhi court has convicted a man for culpable homicide not amounting to murder for brutally assaulting another man with a stick and stones during a Holi-related altercation in west Delhi’s Nangloi area in 2022.
Additional Sessions Judge Priya Mahendra held Karan guilty under section 304 (Part I) of the Indian Penal code (IPC) for causing the death of Mithun, who succumbed to his injuries four days after the assault.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on March 18, 2022, at Hanuman Timber Wali Gali in Rajdhani Park, Nangloi, when the accused, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, assaulted Mithun with a wooden stick and stones. The victim was rushed to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, but died during treatment on March 22.
Relying on eyewitness testimony and CCTV footage, the court rejected the defence’s claim of false implication and observed that the accused returned to the spot multiple times to continue the assault without provocation.
“The prosecution has duly produced the CCTV footage, in which it is clearly visible that the injured/deceased is mercilessly beaten by the accused repeatedly and continuously. The public persons are trying to stop the accused and remove the injured from the clutches of the accused. But he is continuing the assault and brutally beating the injured with legs and fists despite the injured being totally motionless,” the court said in its order dated January 30.
“He has even beaten the accused mercilessly with a danda on his entire body, including head, besides giving him leg and fist blows continuously with acute force. So it is established that the accused clearly had the intention of causing such bodily injuries as are likely to cause the death of the injured, Mithun, which finally resulted in his death,” the court added.
The court also dealt with a hostile witness who was later shown CCTV footage in which he was clearly visible and could identify himself at the scene of crime. He attempted to excuse himself by stating that he was intoxicated at the time of the crime and struggled to recollect the facts accurately.
“His testimony is not completely effaced from record on account of his hostility. The court can still rely on that part of his testimony which is corroborated from the other credible evidence on record,” the court said, relying on the CCTV footage.
The defence counsel tried to cast a doubt on the veracity of a prosecution witness testimony as there was a substantial delay in recording his statement. However, the court rejected this argument as this was due to procedural delays in looking for the CCTV footage to establish him as an eyewitness and on account of the eyewitness not being in Delhi at the time of the investigation.
The defence counsel also called the conduct of the prosecution witnesses “unnatural”, as they did not immediately shift the victim to the hospital.
However, the witnesses stated that a family member of Mithun was already on the way to take him to a hospital and they had tried to stop the accused from assaulting the victim any further.
“It is a natural propensity for any person to make efforts to stop the assailant from beating the injured if he finds that any person is being beaten by another person. It is also obvious that once a family member of the injured reaches the spot, they will take the injured to the hospital and take further steps. So I find nothing unusual and suspecting in the conduct,” the judge said.
Medical evidence supported the prosecution’s case, with the post-mortem report attributing the cause of the death to “craniocerebral damage as a result of blunt force/object impact”.
“The prosecution has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed culpable homicide not amounting to murder of deceased Mithun on March 18, 2022,” the court concluded while convicting Karan under section 304 (Part I) of the IPC.
The court will hear the arguments on sentencing on Thursday. PTI MDB RC
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