New Delhi: A Delhi court has sentenced a man to four years in jail for assaulting his cousin sister and robbing her, holding that the offence was serious and the accused had "no regard for the relationship" he had with the victim.
Additional sessions judge Narinder Kumar handed down the jail term to Sachin Kostha for trespassing into the house of the victim while she was alone with her child.
"The convict did commit the robbery and caused injury having no regard for the relationship which he had with the victim (woman) and ignoring that she was alone with her one-year-old child," the judge said, while also imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kostha, a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
The court, however, diluted the charge of attempt to murder levelled against Kostha, while convicting him for the offences of house trespass and voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery.
"This court finds that prosecution has established that the accused committed house trespass and caused hurt on the person of the woman to commit robbery of her jewellery and currency notes, and thereby he made himself liable for an offence under Section 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) of the IPC," the court said.
The court also relied on the testimony of the woman and her medical report which suggested that she had grievous head injury.
It acquitted Kostha of attempt to murder charge, saying "It cannot be said that accused intended to cause death of the woman while causing injuries to her with a brick. Actually, he intended to commit robbery. Therefore, he is acquitted of the charge under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC," it said.
According to prosecution, on September 26, 2012, the woman was at her house in Shadipur here with her child when Kostha came with a brick and hit her on her head after which she became unconscious.
On regaining her senses, she found her house ransacked and also that Kostha had fled away with her gold jewellery and other valuables.
It further said that Kostha was not happy with her marriage and a few hours before the incident he had visited her house for tea and had enquired about her husband's wealth and his work timings.
During the trial, Kostha had pleaded innocence and sought leniency from the court on the ground that he had to support his father in business.
