Ankit Saxena murder case: Delhi court convicts three for hate crime in national capital
The verdict, delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma on December 23, 2023, affirmed the prosecution's success in establishing the guilt of the accused—Mohd. Salim, Akbar Ali, and Shahnaz Begum.
FollowThe Delhi court on Thursday (March 7) convicted three individuals for the hate crime murder of 23-year-old Ankit Saxena that unfolded in full public view in West Delhi on February 1, 2018. Saxena, a photographer, fell victim to the brutal actions of the family members of his girlfriend in Raghubir Nagar, West Delhi.
Despite the efforts of Saxena's family and others, he was declared brought dead at Guru Gobind Singh Hospital after being transported in an e-rickshaw.
The verdict, delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma on December 23, 2023, affirmed the prosecution's success in establishing the guilt of the accused—Mohd. Salim, Akbar Ali, and Shahnaz Begum.
The court convicted all three under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In addition to the murder charges, the court also convicted Shahnaz Begum under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC for assaulting Saxena's mother, Kamlesh Saxena, as she attempted to protect her son.
The prosecution relied on the testimony of 28 witnesses, including Saxena's father, Yashpal Saxena, mother, and friends Nitin and Anmol. The court emphasized the consistency and contemporaneous nature of their accounts, aligning with the postmortem report and the statements of the forensic science laboratory (FSL) expert.
The court dismissed the testimonies of defense witnesses, citing them as motivated, tutored, contradictory, and unreliable. Additionally, it found contradictions in the statements made by the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
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The arguments about discrepancies in the statements of prosecution witnesses were also rejected, with the court asserting that they did not undermine the core of the prosecution's case and were minor in nature.
Crucially, the court acknowledged the prosecution's successful proof of the motive behind Saxena's murder – his relationship with the girl.
