Bengal man gets 40-years jail term for strangulating five-year-old

The man strangulated the five-year-old boy as a result of a feud with the victim’s grandfather.
For representational purpose
For representational purpose

KOLKATA: For the first time in the Indian judicial system, a man in West Bengal was awarded an exemplary long jail term of 40 years for strangulating a five-year-old boy as a result of a feud with the victim’s grandfather.

The sentence was pronounced by judge Amit Chattopadhyay of Fast Track-1 court of Basirhat subdivisional court. Convict Khudabaksh Ali of Bakjuri area in Haroa in North 24 Parganas district was
found guilty of murdering five-year-old Suraj Lashkar on July 1, 2009 and was awarded 40 years jail term along with Rs 50,000 fine.

Public prosecutor Arindam Goldar said that he had appealed for capital punishment for Khudabaksh but the court awarded the long jail term.

Sources revealed that the murder was a fallout of convict Khudabaksh Ali’s long feud with Abdul Rahim of the same locality. “He wanted to seek revenge by killing Abdul Rahim’s five-year-old grandson
Suraj Lashkar. Accordingly, on July 1, 2009, Khudabaksh lured Suraj with a packet of biscuits into the nearby jute fields and strangled the boy to death. The body was dumped in the swamps of jute fields and covered with jute leaves,” a source said.

Later, when the Suraj’s family created a hue and cry over the missing kid, some locals revealed they had seen Khudabaksh going towards the jute fields with the child and returning alone. Police
raided the jute field and found the body of the boy hidden under the leaves. Khudabaksh was arrested immediately.

Though the Supreme Court has contended that life imprisonment means jail term for entire life and not only 14 years, the jail term awarded to Khudabaksh may not be confused with life imprisonment. He
had specifically been awarded 40 years jail term which is common in countries such as the United States but rarest of the rare in India.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com