Kidnapping, 'child lifting': India

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Death Sentence for kidnappers

Come down hard on kidnappers: SC to judges

Says Death Sentence Okay Even If Murder Not Involved

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN

From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009 2010 feb

New Delhi: Taking serious note of the spate of kidnappings for ransom across the country, Supreme Court on Wednesday asked judges to punish kidnappers hard, mentioning that the law allows awarding death sentence in exceptional cases of kidnapping for ransom even if they did not involve murder.

“Statistics reveal that kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative and thriving industry all over the country which must be dealt with in the harshest possible manner and an obligation rests on courts as well,” a bench comprising justices H S Bedi and J M Panchal said on Monday.

The remark, which may herald a tough regime of justice for kidnappers, came as the top court upheld death penalty on two men who kidnapped a 16-year-old DAV school student from Hoshiarpur for ransom and later murdered him.

Abhi Verma, son of goldsmith Ravi Verma, was kidnapped on February 14, 2005, from outside his school in Hoshiarpur by Vikram Singh, who made several ransom calls to the father. When police got on their trail, Vikram, his accomplice Jasvir Singh and the latter’s wife Sonia killed the boy by using chloroform and then injecting him with an overdose of lethal drug.

The plans for the killing were finalized in front of the child and this is what moved the court to impose death penalty on Vikram and Jasvir, though it reduced the capital punishment awarded to Sonia by trial court and the high court to that of life sentence.

Justice Bedi, writing the judgment for the bench, said, “We must emphasise that in this tragic scenario in the drawing up of the balance sheet, the plight of the hapless victim, and the abject terror that he must have undergone while in the grip of his kidnappers, is often ignored.”

Attempting to paint the picture of a victim in a case of kidnap for ransom, the bench said, “Take this very case. Abhi was only 16 years old, and had been picked up by Vikram who was known to him but had soon realized the predicament that he faced and had shouted for help.” It added, “His terror can further be visualized when he would have heard threatening calls to his father and seen the preparations to kill him, which included taping his mouth and the administration of an overdose of dangerous drugs. The horror, distress and the devastation felt in the family on the loss of an only son, can also be imagined.”

No mercy could be shown towards Vikram and Jasvir, the bench said upholding the death penalty to them. However, it decided to impose life sentence on Sonia saying she might have got embroiled in the conspiracy with her husband and Vikram on account of having come under their pressure.