Man gets life imprisonment for killing minor in Delhi

A Delhi court has sentenced a man to rigorous life imprisonment for stabbing to death a minor following a verbal duel in 2004.

Additional sessions judge Gurdeep Singh, who relied on the circumstantial evidence as the accused was last seen with the victim, also imposed a fine of Rs30,000 on the convict Sonu alias Shahnawaj under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.

The convict, hailing from Welcome Colony in north-east Delhi, was inimical to the elder brother of victim Mohd Sami and stabbed him 20 times following a verbal duel in 2004. The court, however, acquitted co-accused Tahir and Wasim for want of evidence.

"The prosecution has succeeded in completing the chain of the circumstances which unerringly points towards accused Shahnawaj being the person who had committed the murder of the deceased," the court, which rejected the prosecution's plea for death penalty, said.

"The deceased was killed by knife blows. He was a young child. However, the convict was also in his adolescent age (19-year-old at the time of commission of the offence) and there was no previous enmity between them," it said.

Sami was seen minutes before his death with Shahnawaj near the place where the dead body was found, the court said.