Power thief detained in courtroom for a day
8 Jun 2012 5:54 AM IST
A 21-year-old youth, held guilty of stealing electricity, has been sentenced by a Delhi court to day-long detention in the courtroom, besides being asked to pay Rs 1.18 lakh to a discom for the power, on Thursday.
Showing leniency to convict on grounds of his young age, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S K Gupta sentenced West Delhi resident Anil Kumar to detention ‘till rising of the court’.
‘The convict is a first offender. There is nothing on the record to show that he has been previously convicted for the same offence. The convict is a young offender and substantive sentence will affect him. The convict is ready to pay the settled amount of civil liability to the complainant. All these facts coupled with the fact that convict is a young offender, a lenient view is taken in his favour. Hence, convict is sentenced to undergo imprisonment till rising of the court,’ ASJ Gupta said.
The court also held that Kumar is liable to pay Rs 1.18 lakh to BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd for the loss he has caused to discom by stealing 3.60 KWs of power.
A BSES team had inspected Kumar’s premises at Mahavir Enclave in West Delhi on 14 January 2008 and he was caught stealing power by tapping the main service line of BSES.
The premises was used for commercial purposes. A shop, namely M/s Jai Associates, meat shop and one hand-moulding plastic factory were running in the inspected premises.
There was a total connected load of 4.150 KW i.e .220 KW of M/s Jai Associates, .330 KW for meat shop and 3.60 KW for plastic moulding factory. The plastic moulding factory was being run by accused Kumar. Kumar’s counsel told the court that the convict is the sole bread earner of his family.
The counsel further submitted that convict is also ready to pay the civil liability to the complainant company by way of settlement.
‘Kumar was found running a portion of entire inspected premises for plastic hand-moulding machine work. He was found indulging in direct theft of electricity by tapping LV mains with the help of wires. In the light of my aforesaid discussion, I have no hesitation to hold that complainant company has proved the case against the accused beyond shadow of reasonable doubt,’ the court said, while holding Kumar guilty of stealing power.
Showing leniency to convict on grounds of his young age, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S K Gupta sentenced West Delhi resident Anil Kumar to detention ‘till rising of the court’.
‘The convict is a first offender. There is nothing on the record to show that he has been previously convicted for the same offence. The convict is a young offender and substantive sentence will affect him. The convict is ready to pay the settled amount of civil liability to the complainant. All these facts coupled with the fact that convict is a young offender, a lenient view is taken in his favour. Hence, convict is sentenced to undergo imprisonment till rising of the court,’ ASJ Gupta said.
The court also held that Kumar is liable to pay Rs 1.18 lakh to BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd for the loss he has caused to discom by stealing 3.60 KWs of power.
A BSES team had inspected Kumar’s premises at Mahavir Enclave in West Delhi on 14 January 2008 and he was caught stealing power by tapping the main service line of BSES.
The premises was used for commercial purposes. A shop, namely M/s Jai Associates, meat shop and one hand-moulding plastic factory were running in the inspected premises.
There was a total connected load of 4.150 KW i.e .220 KW of M/s Jai Associates, .330 KW for meat shop and 3.60 KW for plastic moulding factory. The plastic moulding factory was being run by accused Kumar. Kumar’s counsel told the court that the convict is the sole bread earner of his family.
The counsel further submitted that convict is also ready to pay the civil liability to the complainant company by way of settlement.
‘Kumar was found running a portion of entire inspected premises for plastic hand-moulding machine work. He was found indulging in direct theft of electricity by tapping LV mains with the help of wires. In the light of my aforesaid discussion, I have no hesitation to hold that complainant company has proved the case against the accused beyond shadow of reasonable doubt,’ the court said, while holding Kumar guilty of stealing power.
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