The Supreme Court on Friday spared the gallows for Vikas and Vishal Yadav, convicted in the Nitish Katara murder case, holding that the crime they committed was not an “honour killing”. The deceased’s mother Neelam Katara had approached the apex court to make out a case for death sentence for the son and nephew of former MP DP Yadav on the ground that the crime committed on the night of February 16-17, 2002 was a heinous act of honour killing.
The Bench of Justices JS Khehar and R Banumathi dismissed the petition by saying, “Nobody can relieve the pain when a child is lost…What they did is condemnable but they do not deserve death.” Incidentally, it is the same Bench headed by Justice Khehar which had upheld the conviction of the two brothers along with third accused Sukhdev Pehelwan.
Currently, the duo is undergoing life term with a clause added by the Delhi High Court ordering them to undergo a mandatory term of 25 years in prison without remission. In the case of Yadav brothers, an additional five year-term was added for burning Katara’s body that amounts to destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the IPC.
Senior advocate Harish Salve who argued for the bereaved mother set out a strong case for enhancing the sentence of the accused calling the crime to be nothing short of “honour killing” as the boy was in love with the sister of the accused.
The Bench told Salve, “From the facts it cannot be said the family was rigid as prior to the incident, they allowed the girl to deliver a wedding card of her sister to the deceased. At the wedding of their friend following which he (Katara) was murdered there was no restraint on the girl and boy to dance. Could the family have allowed her to invite him if it was a case of honour killingIJ”
Even on Salve’s submission that the killing was “heinous” the Bench found only a single hammer blow. “If you keep hitting or chopping the body that is heinous. It appears tentatively that the manner in which the boy and girl danced caused the accused to make up their mind to teach him a lesson.”
Although the final word on Yadavs’ sentence is yet to be out, the Bench expressed satisfaction over the HC reasoning in allowing the accused youngsters to be in prison without remission for 30 years.