Mohali: Four awarded one-year RI for assaulting family of 3
The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 each on the convicts, Ram Ratan, Parminder Singh, Tarandeep Singh and Komal.
A local court on Friday sentenced four people to one-year rigorous imprisonment for assaulting a woman, her husband and mother-in-law in September 2019.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 each on the convicts, Ram Ratan, Parminder Singh, Tarandeep Singh and Komal.
They were found guilty under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code.
They all ran shops in the same market where the complainant, Shilpa Thakur, and her family operated their businesses.
The complainant had gained possession of two shops at the front of the market through a writ petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
According to the prosecution, on September 28, 2019, around 8.15 pm, Shilpa, along with her husband, Saurav Thakur, and mother-in-law Pushpa Devi, was leaving for home after closing their shops when the accused surrounded and attacked them. Based on Shilpa’s complaint, a case was registered against all accused at the Mataur police station.
During trial, the accused claimed innocence, asserting that they had been falsely implicated. However, the court noted that there was no evidence to suggest that the complainant had inflicted injuries on herself or presented fabricated medical records. Also, the accused failed to provide any evidence proving their absence from the crime scene on the day of the incident.
Addressing the defence lawyer’s argument regarding the absence of an independent witness in the investigation, the court stated that the lack of such a witness did not invalidate the prosecution’s case.
The court emphasised that ordinary citizens were often hesitant to testify in criminal cases involving others. Concluding that the prosecution had successfully proven the charges under Sections 323, 341, 354 and 506 of IPC, along with Section 34, the court convicted the accused and sentenced them to one-year rigorous imprisonment.