Man sentenced to 3 yrs in jail for biting off an ear of a cyclist

While delivering the judgement on August 3,Lokesh Kumar Sharma,Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at the Karkardooma courts,called the crime an act of barbarism: “I have considered the rival submissions and contentions of both the sides and I have no hesitation in holding the act of biting or chewing the ear of the complainant in the category of barbarism,which can not be permitted or accepted in a civilised society at any cost whatsoever.”

The incident happened at 3 pm when Ram,returning from the market with a 5 kg load of cotton on his bicycle brushed against Singh’s rickshaw.

Ram told the court that Singh had abused and beaten him. Later,biting off his left ear,causing three-fourths of it to separate. The separated part was never found.

The defence had put forward two theories. The first was Ram,had lost control of the cycle and fell,injuring himself. The other theory was that Ram had had an altercation with some unknown people,and received the injuries. The defence argued that since he could not find his assailants anymore,he had falsely accused Balbir Singh.

However,the court noted: “…accused had miserably failed to cite even a single incident of any previous enmity between the parties,which would have instigated the complainant to falsely implicate him in the present case.”

Interestingly,the court refused to punish Singh under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code,trying him only for Section 325. Section 326 requires that a weapon be used,while 325 merely requires that grievous hurt be caused voluntarily.