Yug case: Hearing on death sentence put off

Vijay Arora

Shimla, September 24

The death sentence reference sent by the Sessions Judge, Shimla, for the confirmation of the death sentence awarded by him to the three accused in the Yug murder case was listed before the High Court on Monday. After hearing the matter for some time, the court adjourned the same for October 9.

During the course of hearing, the counsel for the state sought time for assisting the court in this matter on the ground that the entire record pertaining to the case was not received by him to date.

While allowing the prayer, a Division Bench comprising Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary and Justice Vivek Singh Thakur deferred the hearing for October 9.Section 366 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that when a Sessions Court passes a death sentence, the proceedings must be submitted to the High Court and the sentence cannot be executed unless it is confirmed by the High Court.

As per the provision, whenever such a case is submitted to the High Court, it may confirm the sentence or pass any other sentence warranted by law or annul the conviction.

Virender Singh, Session Judge, Shimla, had awarded the death penalty to three persons on September 5 for kidnapping and murdering a four-year-old boy for ransom.

The District and Sessions Court had held Chander Sharma, Tajender Singh and Vikrant Bakshi guilty under Sections 302, 347 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code.

Yug Gupta, son of businessman Vinod Gupta, was kidnapped and murdered in the Kelston area of Shimla four years ago. Yug’s skeletal remains were found inside a water tank in the Kelston locality on August 22, 2016, leading to widespread protests across the town. Yug was kidnapped by the accused persons on June 14, 2014, from Ram Bazaar. After Yug went missing, a case of abduction under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code was registered on June 16, 2014, following which an investigation was initiated.