A man and two others have been sent to life term for murdering his aged father over property dispute by a Delhi court, which observed that there is a spurt in crime against senior citizens in urban India where parents are often considered as "burden" by their married children.
While sentencing the convicts, the judge made it clear that no remission will be given to Prem Singh till he undergoes 20 years jail term, saying that it is a case of patricide which provides for a greater punishment.
"There can be no justification whatsoever for any killing. But to kill one's own father or mother is an act which invites extreme indignation and that too at an age when it is the obligation of the children to provide due care, attention and maintenance to their parents," Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on convicts Prem Singh, Kamal Kishore and Manoj Kumar.
According to police, Prem, Kamal and Manoj had murdered 67-year-old Hoshiyar Singh on September 10, 2009 in his house in Adarsh Nagar area.
It said Prem bore extreme hatred towards his father due to long standing property dispute, planned to eliminate him and he did it in consortium with his associates Kamal and Manoj.
The police said the accused had beaten the victim with an iron rod and murdered him by strangulating him. The incident came to light when the victim's daughter saw him lying on a cot, covered with a bed sheet.
The victim's family suspected Prem behind the murder as he often used to quarrel with his father and also beat him up in the past. He had escaped from the spot when they had made an emergency call to PCR.
