The court, in its judgment, observed that no person should be sentenced to any harsh punishment disproportionate to the crime. At the same time, any undue sympathy to the offender would send a wrong signal to the society.
The court, which contemplated to award "harsh sentence" to 30-year-old convict Habib, gave minimum punishment for the offence considering the needs of his family.
"There are millions of people in this country who are poor and working very hard to make their both ends meet. The convict has responsibility of his family and he chose the path of crime to fulfill his obligation to his family. The crime committed by the convict is very serious. However, keeping in view, the need of the convict by his family, the court is sentencing him to the minimum sentence," Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Sharma said.
According to the police, the incident occurred in August 2015, when victims Ravi and his cousin Vishesh deboarded a bus at Welcome area in north east Delhi and the two accused, Habib and Rustam, slapped them and robbed Vishesh of Rs 6,000.
When Ravi resisted, the accused hit him with a sharp object on his cheek and while Rustam fled the spot, Habib was caught by the victims who handed them over to police, it said.
During the trial, Habib denied the allegations levelled against him.
He sought a lenient view in sentencing saying he has to maintain his family and any jail term would cause hardship to it.
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