Not death, life in jail for ex-Army officer

Twenty-five years, seven months and a day on, a city court on Saturday sentenced the retired Armyman to life imprisonment.

District and Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Chaudhary, now 72, under various provisions of the IPC.

The court, however, refused to treat the case as “rarest of rare”, as argued by the CBI, which warrants death penalty.

Minutes after the judgment, the victim’s father, H D Sikand, told Newsline that he felt “satisfied” but “not happy”. “It (the judgment) is coming after 26 years and I have waited all these years to see my son get justice,” the 97-year-old said. “I do not know much about the system but the delay and loss of my son take away a little of my happiness.” But perhaps, he added, the wheel of justice moves “at this pace only”.

Sikand, though, asserted that he did not want death sentence for Chaudhary as it would help no one, and “mean nothing to me”.

The victim’s son, Sanjay Sikand, also called the punishment “satisfactory”.

The judgment, though, left Chaudhary visibly relaxed. A discernible strain on the faces of his relatives present in court for the final order also vanished almost as soon as Sehgal pronounced the verdict: “I sentence you to life term.”

One of Chaudhary’s relatives said, “Life term is a lot relaxing; we at least have a way out to approach the higher court.”

Post-verdict, Chaudhary wished to address the court and blamed the media for creating hype around the case and people revolving around it. “It should not matter whether someone is 97 or 98,” he said, “and the case should be judged on its merit… the media remained biased against me throughout the trial.”

But the judge replied that she was not affected by the media reports, and similar should be Chaudhary’s reaction, as he would not become a king if the media wrote so.

But taking a further dig at the media, Chaudhary quipped, “Certainly I will become a king if the media says so.”