Katara case: HC asks convicts to compensate victim's family

In pursuance of a Supreme Court orders, the Delhi High Court today said three convicts, including UP politician D P Yadav's son Vikas, will have to pay compensation to the family of Nitish Katara who was abducted and killed in 2002 here.
A special bench, comprising justices Gita Mittal and J R Midha, which had asked Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSA) OSD S S Rathi to enquire about the convicts' capacity to pay the compensation, today gave three weeks extra time for this purpose.
The court asked Rathi to file his report after the summer vacation.
The apex court had in a landmark verdict in Ankush Shivaji Gaikwad Vs UOI case, said that under Section 357 of the Criminal Procedure Code, courts dealing with criminal offences are bound to consider granting compensation to the victims or their families.

Meanwhile, P K Dey, counsel for Neelam Katara, mother of the deceased, briefly argued in support of his plea on enhancement of sentence. The court has fixed the matter for further hearing on July 2.
Dey sought enhancement of the sentence from life term to death penalty on various grounds including that the convicts have committed the honour killing, the "rarest of rare" crime and moreover, they can neither be reformed nor rehabilitated as they are habitual offenders.
Neelam Katara, in her written pleas, has said the offence has been held as "honour killing" and hence, deterrent punishment was needed as such offences are rising in society.