Four men have been awarded life imprisonment for conspiring and kidnapping an eight-year-old son of a businessman for ransom by a Delhi court which said "using a helpless child as an instrument to extort money is the worst kind of offence".
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sent Brijesh (33), Bunty (26), Kamal Saxena (33) and Ravinder (25) to life term and acquitted three others of the charges of conspiracy and kidnapping for ransom.
The court gave them minimum sentence of life imprisonment as prescribed under the IPC for the offence of kidnapping a person for demanding ransom after considering that they are young and first-time offenders.
The judge said that as on date kidnapping has become a "major problem" being faced by the society.
"Kidnapping is a profitable business specifically if the victim is a small child belonging to a poor family. In the recent past, Delhi has experienced a spurt and rise in the incidents of kidnapping and exploitation of small children belonging to poor families for ransom, trafficking, beggary and human organs trade.
"Kidnapping is an offence against the society and courts cannot shut their eyes to permit the guilty to get away with lighter punishment just because the existing statutory laws do not sufficiently cover various situations," the court said.
According to the prosecution, on December 11, 2010, Bunty, Kamal Saxena, Brijesh, Ravinder, Ashok Kumar, Chetan and Shanu conspired and kidnapped the minor for demanding Rs 25 lakh from his parents from Shakurpur area in north west Delhi.
