Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Gurvinder Pal Singh jailed Jamia Nagar resident Mohd Umar and his wife Nikhat Parveen to jail, holding them guilty of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder of their elderly neighbour Maulana Abdul Khaleel Mungeri and saying that "life is a gift of God."
"Human life is a gift of God. Right to life is a fundamental right enshrined in our Constitution in Article 21. An offence affecting the life of a person, who must soon die either from a mortal disease or in course of nature from old age and decay, is not a less offence than one which affects the life of a person in strong health," the court said.
The couple had assaulted Mungeri in a fight over a trivial issue of using a long rope to fasten their goat outside their house and this allowed the pet to reach the neighbour's door an disturb him.
The court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each on the accused, awarded rigorous imprisonment to Mohd Umar but simple imprisonment to his wife due to her frail health as she is suffering from Tuberculosis.
According to the police, Mohd Umar had purchased eastern portion of a house in Okhla Vihar from Mungeri but there was a dispute over a common wall and on July 28, 2008, some quarrel took place between them.
On the next day, Abdulla Shakeel, son of Mungeri, reached in front of his house and Mohd Umar abused him from rooftop and came down to quarrel with him and when Mungeri tried to save his son, Nikhit Parveen also came out and they beat the father-son duo, the police said.
The accused hit Mungeri on the chest with a brick after which he died at the spot, the prosecution said. (More) PTI ABA RKS RAX