New Delhi, March 26 A Delhi court has convicted two men for attempting to commit culpable homicide, and for criminally intimidating and insulting the modesty of a woman, after it found the testimony of the defense witnesses to be lacking critical details and likely manipulated.
Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Singh convicted Rustam and Mohammed Rizwan for committing the offenses under Sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (common intention), 509 (acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 506 (II) (aggravated criminal intimidation with threats of death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The third accused, Shahzadi, has been declared a proclaimed offender.
According to the prosecution, the complainant was repeatedly harassed by the accused, Rizwan, weeks before the incident. The complainant approached Rizwan's family members about the harassment 15-20 days before the incident.
This led Rizwan to threaten to kill her if she approached the police. On the night of February 10, 2021, the three accused showed up at her residence and barged in. The three accused brutally assaulted and abused her with immodest insults until she lost consciousness.
As defense witnesses, Rizwan's neighbors narrated a contradictory story regarding the events. They deposed that Rizwan and his wife were arguing loudly at that time, and hearing the commotion, the complainant came out of her house to see the quarrel.
They said that some object from the roof of a nearby hut fell onto her head, resulting in the injuries recorded in her medicolegal case (MLC).
The judge noted the peculiarities in their witness statement. He also noted that upon cross-examination, none of the witnesses could provide details about the nature of the object that fell on her or which part of her head sustained an injury.
He also highlighted that if they had witnessed the incident, they should have volunteered to narrate the facts to police officials who came to the scene of the crime.
"The defense witnesses admittedly disliked the complainant, but they had friendly relations with the accused persons, on account of which they were examined by the accused persons as a defense afterthought," said the judge.
He found their testimonies "not worthy of reliance" and discarded them for "having no probative value".
The defense argued that the testimony of the complainant was not believable as she had not filed any police complaint regarding earlier incidents of alleged harassment by Rizwan. The judge discarded this argument for having "no substance".
"The non-recovery of the weapon of offence is immaterial in view of proven head and arm injury caused to the complainant," the judge said as the medical evidence corroborated the incident.
While the accused had been chargesheeted for the offence of Section 307 (attempt to murder), the judge found it more suitable to convict them under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.
"From the evidence, it does not seem that the accused persons intended to kill the victim. The injury caused to the victim was intentional and could likely cause her death.
"The circumstances were such that if the death of the victim had occurred because of lacerated injury caused on her head, accused Mohd Rizwan and Rustam would have been guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder," he said, justifying the conviction.
The matter is listed for arguments on sentencing on March 27.
