Cabbie gets life term

The Fast-Track Special Court has sentenced 35-year-old Monu Kumar to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of 22-year-old MBA student Neha Ahlawat 15 years ago. The Judge, Dr Yashika, also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the convict.

The Judge said the act of the convict did not deserve any sympathy of the court. In this case, the convict raped and murdered an unmarried girl on the night of July 30, 2010. He was arrested after 14 years, when he made the disclosure about this case during questioning in another case registered against him for the same offences — Sections 302 and 376 of the IPC.

This court is of the view that a requisite sentence has to be imposed upon the convict to protect society, as a legitimate response to the collective conscience. In other words, it is an obligation on the court to society, which has reposed faith in the court of law to curtail evil, said the Judge.

“Keeping in view the totality of the facts and circumstances, this court is of the firm opinion that it is not the rarest of the rare case, which calls for capital punishment. However, it is a case of its own kind where a convict was arrested after 14 years of the incident with the efforts of the police party and scientist who had examined the samples of the deceased as well as the convict. Resultantly, convict Monu Kumar is sentenced to Imprisonment for Life and is fined an amount of Rs 1 lakh,” said the Judge.

Earlier, while arguing on the quantum of sentence, the Public Prosecutor had prayed for death penalty to the accused due to the heinous nature of the crime.

Sunil Kumar Pandey, counsel of the accused, said the case did not fall in the rarest-of-rare category and prayed for leniency on the ground that he is looking after his mother.

I am innocent: Convict

Convict Monu Kumar said he was falsely implicated in the case by the police. He said he did not kill the victim and did nothing wrong. The police implicated him in the case due to old cases registered against him.

Convict deserves death penalty: Father

Rajbir, father of victim Neha Ahlawat, said the convict deserves death sentence. He is an animal and has no right to live in society, said Rajbir, adding that the family was expecting death sentence to the accused. The family is happy with the police investigation as the case was reopened after many years. They had strong belief that the accused would be arrested one day, said Rajbir.