New Delhi: A futile bid to rob a watchman of mere Rs 20 has landed a youth in jail for two years and another, who also brandished a knife in the act, for seven years.
While convicting the duo — Zakir, 21, and Jitender, 24, and handing them the stringent punishment — additional sessions judge V.K. Bansal pointed out that a meager sum of Rs 20, which they tried to rob from the watchman, does not downplay the gravity of the sentence.
"They (Jitender and Zakir) took away whatever was in his (watchman's) possession, but only Rs 20 were found in the wallet, which in any manner does not effect the gravity of the offence," judge Bansal said while sentencing the duo.
"Convict Jitender used knife in the commission of offence and robbed a person who was returning from his duty," he said while handing out seven years' jail term to Jitender for using the knife in robbery.
Zakir, who used no weapon in the act, was sentenced to two years in jail. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each on the duo.
The court gave its ruling on the robbery case which took place in April last year at Model Town area in North West Delhi. The watchman Dheeraj Chand was on his way to home at Azadpur after the day's work when he was accosted by the duo near Azadpur Metro station.
They caught hold of him with Jitender fishing out a knife and threatening him with dire consequences if he dared a minute's delay in handing over his valuables to them.
Zakir took out Dheeraj's purse from his pocket and fled from the spot, but an alert policemen gave them chase and caught hold of them after hearing the alarm raised by the victim.
On recovery, Dheeraj's purse yielded Rs 20 besides some visiting cards and his photograph.
During the trial, the convicts pleaded that they were falsely implicated in the case with the defence counsel contending that no public witnesses had come forward to depose in the case despite despite the alleged incident having taken place near metro station in full public view.
However, the court junked the defence contentions saying, "Prosecution has fully established and proved its case that Dheeraj was robbed by Jitender and Zakir of his purse containing Rs 20... and Jitender used the knife in the commission of the offence."