Nitish Katara murder case: SC pronounces judgment, 25 years of jail for Vikas Yadav

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday decided the quantum of sentence for Yadav cousins, who were convicted in the sensational 2002 Nitish Katara murder.

• Vikas and Vishal Yadav awarded with 25 years in jail for murdering Nitish Katara

 

• A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan pronounced the verdict on the appeals filed by Vikas and Vishal against the Delhi High Court order which had enhanced the life term to 25 years in jail without remission and an additional five years for destruction of evidence in the case by terming the murder of Katara as "honour killing"

 

• Yadavs' acquaintance Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehelwan was also awarded an enhanced life sentence of 25 years without remission by the court which held that the crime fell in "rarest of rare category", but saved them from the gallows saying possibility of their reformation and rehabilitation is not "unforseeably foreclosed"

 

• The Supreme Court had on August 17, 2015, upheld the conviction of Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev, saying "only criminals are crying for justice" in this country

 

• While upholding the conviction, the apex court had said that it will separately consider hearing pleas on the limited aspect relating to enhancement of quantum of sentence of the three convicts by the High Court

 

• Earlier, the high court had held that the murder of Katara, who was in love with Vikas's sister, was an "honour killing" which was done in a "very carefully planned and premeditated" manner with "extreme vengeance"

 

• It had also enhanced the fines imposed on Vikas and Vishal by slapping an amount of Rs 54 lakh each on them, to be deposited in the trial court within six weeks.

 

• Vikas (39), Vishal (37) and Sukhdev (40) were serving life term awarded by the lower court in May 2008 for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and the son of a railway officer, on the night of February 16-17, 2002, as they opposed the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav

 

• The high court had on April 2, 2014, upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system

 

• Nitish Katar's mother Neelam Katara welcomed SC decision. She said, "Happy with SC's decision, qualitatively. Honour crime will get stringent punishment, its not an ordinary crime"