New delhi,September 05 :A 31-year-old Meerut resident has been sentenced to life term for gunning down the brother of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist, who was suspected of burning a holy book.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) N K Kaushik awarded life sentence to Shahin Saifi, saying that the the case did not belong to “the rarest of rare” category warranting death sentence to the convict.
“The convict had killed the deceased by firing at him. He is not previously known to have committed any such crime. The convict belongs to the poor section of the society. That under the circumstances available on record, the case does not fall in the category of rarest of rare case,” the court said.
“I am of the opinion, therefor, that imprisonment for life with some fine would meet the ends of justice,” the court said while also imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict. Deepak Sharma, brother of an erstwhile Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activist Robin Sharma, was shot dead at Dwarka in West Delhi in 2005.
During the trial, Robin had deposed that he was a member of VHP till 2003 and due to a “false accusation” that he had burnt a holy book in 2001, there were several attacks on him and his family members.
He said on March 2, 2005, he saw two persons coming on a motorcycle towards his shop and later turning back. He said suspecting an imminent assault on him, he left the shop and went home after which his brother, who too was leaving for home on a motorcycle, was shot dead.