Additional Sessions Judge Sukhdev Singh sentenced East Delhi resident Jasvir Choudhary on a complaint by BSES Yamuna Power Limited that he had been stealing electricity through illegal wires, without installing a meter in his house.
The court awarded him milder sentence under the provisions of the Electricity Act which entails imprisonment of a term which may not extend to three years or with fine, saying he is the sole earning member in the family comprising three children, wife and aged parents.
"Keeping in view the fact that he (Choudhary) is willing to make settlement, he is the sole earning sole earning member in his family having responsibility of three children, wife and old parents, I am of the view that sentence of till rising of the court (TRC) under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, shall be appropriate and meet the ends of justice," the judge said.
"..It is ordered that accused shall make the payment of Rs three lakh towards civil liability. This shall include any amount paid by the accused to the company on account of his case ID. The amount of Rs three lakh shall be paid in three equal monthly instalments commencing from October 15, 2012," the court said.
The prosecution had submitted that on December 13, 2006, a joint inspection team had raided the house of the accused in Khichripur village here and had found that he was using electricity directly by tapping into the main power supply of the discom through illegal wires and no meter was found to be installed at the premises.
The discom, subsequently served Choudhary with a bill of Rs 5,34,169 for the theft of electricity. As he failed to pay the bill, the company had filed the complaint.