GURUGRAM: A 23-year-old guard who was part of a private hospital's security detail has been sentenced to life imprisonment without remission by a court in Gurugram for murdering a colleague in 2019. During the trial, all the witnesses, most of whom were hospital staff, turned hostile, but the court relied on CCTV footage from the healthcare facility to give its verdict.
Rejecting the convict's plea, additional sessions judge Phalit Sharma observed that if any leniency was shown in the case, there would be no rule of law, "but only anarchy that would enable criminals and gangs to dictate terms". "Therefore, any sympathy shown will only amount to a misplaced one which the courts cannot afford to take," the judge said in his order, dated June 1.
On the morning of April 5, 2019, Jugal Kishore was deployed outside the ICU of Sheetla Hospital in the city when he was stabbed to death by his colleague, Nofil Anwar, in front of patients and hospital staff. After the crime, Nofil fled the spot, dumped the murder weapon (a knife) and blood stained clothes, and left Gurgaon. He was arrested from Bulandshahr in UP, his home town, a day later.
Anurag Hooda, the public prosecutor, said all the witnesses turned hostile during the trial but the court took into account footage from several CCTV cameras installed at the hospital. "In the footage, Nofil could be seen entering the hospital with a knife hidden in his trousers and running out of the facility carrying the weapon in his hand. The hospital staff played a mute spectator fearing for their lives as Nofil murdered his colleague in front of them," he said.
The court, however, made it clear that the witnesses turning hostile couldn't result in the rejection of the entire evidence. "It is concluded that it is the accused only who in a pre-planned manner committed the murder of Jugal Kishore in presence of lot many eye-witnesses i.e., the hospital staff who apparently did not elect to become witnesses to avoid legal complications generally faced by the witnesses in a criminal case."
Sanjeev Jain, the defence lawyer, pleaded for leniency on the ground that "Nofil is only 23 years old, has no previous criminal record and has to take care of his parents and family".
However, judge Sharma said in the order that a person who has deprived another person of his liberty forever and has endangered the liberty of his family, "has no right to ask the court to uphold his liberty". "State machinery is not able to protect or guarantee the life and liberty of the common man. In this scenario, if any further leniency is shown in the matter of imposition of sentence, at least in respect of capital punishment or life imprisonment, it can only be said that will only lead to further chaos..."
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict.
