Srinagar, August 23: A court here on Tuesday sentenced two people to life in jail for the “horrific” crime of pouring acid on a 20-year-old law student on December 11 in Nowshera, Srinagar.
The judge, Jawad Ahmed, made the announcement in front of a crowded courtroom at Srinagar’s Principal District and Sessions Court.
After hearing arguments from Special Public Prosecutor AA Teeli, who requested the maximum sentence of life in prison for the accused, and from lawyers defending the couple, who asked for a shorter sentence of 10 years considering mitigating circumstances, the court reserved its judgement over the weekend.
Irshad Ahmad Wani, alias Sunny Wazirbagh Srinagar, and Muhammad Umar Noor, alias Bemina Srinagar, were found guilty on Thursday of violating Sections 326-A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid), 201 (destroying evidence), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the RPC.
In my opinion, the prosecution has shown sufficient evidence to convict the defendants of all charges. A copy of the judgement is attached hereto as Exhibit A. “Therefore, this charge sheet is accepted, and the accused persons, namely Irshad Amin Wani and Mohammed Umer Noor (Accused No. 2), are held guilty for the offences punishable under Sections 326-A, 201, and 120-B of the RPC.”
The court said that it found “absolutely no material from the defence side to suggest any probable reason for falsely implicating the accused persons in this case.”
The court had said, “The established facts, circumstances, and chain of evidence taken cumulatively are so complete and consistent that in all human probabilities the only hypothesis is that the horrendous act of throwing acid on the victim has been committed by the accused No.2 in furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by accused No.1 with accused No.2,” adding, “The established facts and circumstances do not leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with
One young law student in particular suffered severe injuries in an acid assault at Nowshera on the outskirts of the city on December 11.
Given the seriousness of the crime, which caused shockwaves throughout the Valley, a Special Investigation Team was formed by then-IGP Kashmir A.G. Mir and led by then-SSP Srinagar Amit Kumar, with then-SP Rayees Mohammad Bhat (now DIG South Kashmir) as the SIT’s in-charge. The two accused were apprehended within two weeks. GNS
