The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday dashed all hopes of Vikas Yadav, Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehalwan for any relief in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case by upholding their conviction by the Delhi High Court (HC).
Holding Uttar Pradesh heavyweight politician DP Yadav’s son Vikas, his cousin Vishal Yadav and associate Sukhdev Pehelwan guilty, the SC dismissed the trio’s appeal in a matter of just three hours. The Bench of Justices JS Khehar and Adarsh K Goel did not find any reason to question the 700-page order passed by the HC holding the three persons guilty for the “honour killing.” Katara was eliminated for his alleged closeness to Vikas’ sister Bharti.
However, on the question of punishment, the Bench decided to issue a notice to the Delhi Government seeking its response on the plea.
The HC had awarded a 30-year
jail-term to Vikas and Vishal without remission while Pehalwan was sentenced to a 25-year jail term. The trial court had earlier sentenced all to life term.
Witnessing the hearing in the court was the family of Vikas and Vishal, who stood through the entire proceeding in anticipation of relief. Also present alongside was Nitish Katara’s mother Neelam Katara, who waged a sustained battle against the powerful Yadavs and was instrumental in getting the trial shifted from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.
Senior advocate UR lalit, who appeared for the Yadavs, made every attempt to bring in question the credibility of the lone eyewitness Ajay Katara. lalit branded him as a “planted witness” who hailed from the same village as that of the victim.
Noting that all the other witnesses produced by the prosecution had turned hostile, the Bench said, “Just imagine, the kind of threat perception you (Yadavs) created. You made all witnesses resile. This man (Ajay) is standing and you want to demolish him. In this country only criminals are crying for justice. What kind of fairness can he (Yadav) expect,” the Bench said.
The lawyers who appeared for the accused sought to dissect the events as they unfolded on February 16-17, 2002 to show that the police ought to have produced a sketch of the spot. lalit said this was necessary to corroborate the account of the eyewitness who claimed to have seen Katara sitting with the accused in a Tata Sumo when it stopped on the road near Hapur Chungi in Ghaziabad. But the court said these points were covered by the trial court and HC extensively and kept pressing the counsels to point out any “glaring” mistake in the HC order that could “prick” their conscience.
When the turn came for Pehalwan’s lawyer to punch holes in Ajay’s testimony, the Bench heaped praise on the witness for his “overwhelming courage” and asked them not to waste further judicial time. The court said, “Your (Pehalwan) problem is that you helped them in the crime....You will swim together or you will sink together.”
The HC order of April 2, 2014 had described the incident as “honour killing” stemming from a “deeply-entrenched belief” in the caste system since Katara and Bharti who were allegedly in love, belonged to different castes.