Four in Himachal sentenced for killing ragging protester

DHARAMSALA - A court in this Himachal Pradesh town has convicted four students for stabbing to death another student, who stopped them from ragging juniors in a degree college in 2003, a law official said here Tuesday.

“Four of the five students were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment by Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajiv Bhardwaj Monday for murdering Amit Thakur,” Additional District Attorney Kuldip Sen told IANS.

They were also fined Rs.25,000 each.

He said the case of the fifth accused, who was juvenile at the time of the crime, was transferred to a juvenile court.

The five students stabbed Amit and his friends Munish Walia and Rajesh Sharma with sharp-edged weapons when they tried to prevent them from ragging freshers in the Government Degree College at Palampur (now Shaheed Vikram Batra Degree College) near here Aug 20 in 2003.

However, Amit died of his injuries 21 days after the stabbing incident in a hospital in Ludhiana in Punjab, while his two friends survived.

Sen said the attackers were convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code as Amit’s post-mortem examination report confirmed that he died due to stabbing.

The students who have been convicted are Vikas Chauhan, Sachin Pal and brothers Saurav Sood and Gaurav Sood. They were taken into custody by police soon after the judgment was pronounced.

Ravinder Thakur, the father of Amit, said he was satisfied with the judgment.

“Though it was much delayed, I am satisfied now,” he said.

He also wrote a letter to Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Kurian Joseph in earlier in August, demanding that the bail of the four accused be cancelled and the trial be held speedily.

A fast track court in Dharamsala is also conducting day-to-day hearing in the case of Aman Kachru, who was ragged to death March 8, 2009, allegedly by four final-year students of the Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Tanda town near here.

Rajendra Kachru, the father of Aman, deposed in the fast track court Aug 28 for the first time and narrated in detail the sequence of events that led to his son’s death.

The court Aug 2 resumed the trial against four medical students — Ajay Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma — after they surrendered on cancellation of their bail by the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The high court, which had initiated suo motu proceedings after bail was granted to them July 17, said: “The order passed by the trial court granting bail to the accused is against law…accordingly quashed and set aside.”

“The trial court would ensure that the trial is conducted from day to day. The court would ensure that no undue and unnecessary adjournments are granted to either side,” Justice D.D. Sud observed in his 37-page order.