18-month jail for man for threatening, assaulting witness` son

New Delhi: A man has been sentenced to 18 months in jail by a Delhi court for injuring and criminally intimidating the son of a woman, who had deposed against him in a murder case. Metropolitan magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat handed over the jail term to Saleem, a resident of Subzi Mandi in north Delhi, for beating and threatening Akil, whose mother and sister were prosecution witnesses in the murder case in which he (Saleem) was facing trial, in 2005. "Hence, no grounds for leniency are made out," the magistrate said, while relying on the testimonies of Akil and his brother Naseem, who was also threatened by the man. Saleem was held guilty for the offences under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court, however, allowed his plea for suspending his jail term to enable him to file an appeal against conviction and sentence and granted him bail till July 23. It also relied on the medical report of Akil and said, "The injuries to the complainant (Akil) are also proved by his statement and his medical report. It is settled principle of law that for proving the allegations of simple hurt, testimony of complainant is sufficient." According to the prosecution, on the morning of October 16, 2005, when Akil was returning home after offering prayers at a mosque, he saw Saleem wrongfully restraining his 15-year -old brother Naseem. When he tried to rescue Naseem, Saleem beat him up and threatened to kill both of them because their mother and sister had deposed against him in the murder case, it said. Police said that Saleem had attacked Akil with an iron rod and in the scuffle he fell down and sustained injuries. Akil was then taken to a nearby hospital. With the help of Naseem, Saleem was arrested from his residence the next day. Saleem, in his defence, pleaded not guilty and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case. He also sought leniency in sentence from the court on the ground that he has to take care of his family.