Three years after a bride from Barnala was killed in an acid attack on her wedding day, the court of additional district and sessions judge Sandeep Kumar Singla on Wednesday sentenced six accused, including a woman, to life imprisonment.
Those convicted are Amritpal Kaur, the divorced wife of the groom’s elder brother, her paramour Parvinder Singh, Sunnypreet Singh, Gursewak Singh, all residents of Patiala and Jaspreet Singh and Rakesh Kumar, residents of Fatehgarh Sahib.
One of the accused Ashwani Kumar of Mohalla Arya Samaj of Patiala was acquitted. He was accused of providing fake car number plates to the accused for executing the crime but the charge could not be proved.
The court said the two main conspirators — Amritpal and Parvinder — have been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment which shall not be less than 25 years each. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 9.6 lakh on all accused and ordered a compensation of Rs 6 lakh to the parents of the victim Harpreet Kaur.
On December 7, 2013, Harpreet had gone to a beauty salon in Sarabha Nagar for her bridal make-up when one of the accused barged in and threw acid on her. Three women, including two beauticians working at the parlour, had sustained injuries in the attack.
The victim was rushed to the DMC with 45% burns on her face, eyes, chest and abdomen. On December 12, she was shifted to National Burns Centre in Mumbai for treatment. However, Harpreet lost battle for life on December 27.
The victim’s mother, who was outside the salon, had noted the number of the Zen car in which the accused had come.
After the incident, the open sale of acid was banned in the city.
JEALOUS EX-WIFE OF GROOM’S BROTHER HAD HATCHED PLOT
During interrogation, the main accused Amritpal Kaur told police she was jealous of her ex-husband’s family and sought help from her paramour to scar the bride on the day of her wedding.
Kaur told police that she planned attack on Harpreet so that no one dared to marry their daughter into the groom’s family.
