Neki & Brandy get life term

In its 117-page judgment,the Court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge ruled,“It stands amply proved that accused Himmat Singh and Neki Nalwa had conspired with each other and in pursuance of said conspiracy,they committed the murder of Sukhwinderjit Singh,as per prosecution story,by firing a shot from the pistol.” Refusing to award death sentence,as demanded by the prosecution,the Court held,“I do not find the case in hand among the rarest of rare cases,where death penalty could be awarded. The cruel manner in which murder was committed cannot be the guiding factor in favour of death sentence. The death sentence should only be imposed in a case where the crime or crimes are of exceptional heinousness and the individual has no significant mitigation and is considered beyond reformation”.

The judgment further reads,“The victim was murdered for personal reasons. So both the convicts cannot be accepted a menace to the society. Neither of them is a previous convict,nor having any criminal record. Thus,I do not find any special reason for awarding death penalty,which is imperative”.

Contradictions in Neki’s statements,phone call records and tower location helped the prosecution establish its case against the two. The third accused Paramveer Singh was awarded six months’ jail by the Court on June 4 with a penalty of Rs 500. He was released on bail the same day (June 4).

Declining to accept the claim of Neki Nalwa’s counsel that no conspiracy was hatched to kill Sukhwinderjit Singh on the night of December 4,2005,the Court ruled,“It becomes clear that Neki had insisted Sukhwinderjit Singh for a walk and then,giving a phone call to Himmat Singh at 10:05 pm,their tower locations in the same area and then firing a shot on Sukhwinderjit Singh,conclusively proves that Sukhwinderjit Singh had been killed in view of the conspiracy of both the accused.”

The Court added,“Sukhwinderjit had attempted to survive the relations with accused Neki. But it has been found to be a one-sided affair,keeping in view the totality of the circumstances.”

Also,the Court has given a finding that the divorce petition filed by the two was with the clear intention to get separated from Sukhwinderjit Singh. “The divorce petition when filed was genuinely filed and no compromise was affected between the parties since it was pending for December 15,2005 for its final decision. So till the date of occurrence (December 4,2005) the accused (Neki) was not having cordial relations with the deceased,” reads the judgment.

Special mention has been made to a letter written by Sukhwinderjit which “speaks voluments when it projects that the accused had no physical relations with him for the last about five years.”