The Supreme Court on Friday said that the 2002 Nitish Katara murder was not an honour killing and could not be called a rarest of rare case.
The Bench said it was probably the manner in which Nitish and Bharti, sister of Vikas and Vishal, danced at the wedding of their colleague which triggered the anger among the Yadav brothers to kidnap and kill Nitish. Bharti and Vikas are children of criminal-turned-politician DP Yadav, who too is cooling his heels behind bars in another case.
The court said that killing of Nitish Katara could not be termed as honour killing as the Yadav family had not objected to their friendship.
Moreover, the murder was done with a single blow of hammer and not in a brutally heinous manner to warrant <g data-gr-id="37">death</g> sentence.
The Supreme Court has already upheld the conviction of Vikas and his cousin brother Vishal for the murder of Nitish. However, it is yet to conclude arguments on the quantum of sentence.
The Delhi high court had awarded 30 years imprisonment to Vikas and Vishal. After the court’s order, victim Nitish Katara’s mother Neelam said she would continue to “fight for justice.” “I respect the court’s decision. We will come prepared with more facts next time. This fight shall continue,” she said.
Nitish Katara was 25 when he was bludgeoned to death in Ghaziabad near Delhi. He was allegedly dating Bharti Yadav.
The young couple was attending a wedding party when Katara was abducted and murdered. Later his corpse was burnt beyond recognition by Bharti’s brother Vikas and her cousin Vishal.
His corpse was found near a highway days after the wedding from where Nitish was seen leaving with the Yadavs in their SUV. The police used DNA samples to identify his body.