Murdered Y’nagar principal’s kin want harsh punishment to convict
KARNAL: A day after an 18-yearold Class 12 student was held guilty of gunning down his school principal in Yamunanagar town two years ago, the victim’s family sought exemplary punishment for the convict.
“We are happy the court has finally convicted him. We now want he should be given the maximum and exemplary punishment to give a strong message to the society,” says Rajesh Chhabra, 50, husband of Ritu Chhabra, principal of the private school, who was killed by the student on January 20, 2018.
Additional sessions judge Payal Bansal on Tuesday convicted the youngster, who is 20 now, but acquitted his father, a resident of Hamida Colony of Yamunanagar. The father was an accused in the case as the boy had used his licensed .32-bore revolver to commit the crime. The quantum of sentence will be announced on February 28.
Chhabra said, “We are disappointed with the acquittal of the boy’s father as he was equally responsible for the murder. My wife would have been alive today, had he not provided his gun to his son.”
The boy had entered the principal’s office during a parentteacher meeting and shot her four times in the face and the chest. She was rushed to a private hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
It was later learnt that the student wanted to teach her a lesson as she used to punish him in front of other students for his poor academic performance and low attendance.
Police said the boy was a commerce stream student and had not been coming to the school for four days before the incident. His teachers were concerned about his performance and low attendance in the final year of school.
Chhabra said Ritu’s murder had cost the family heavily as she was the main pillar of the family. “My both sons live in other towns and there is nobody to take care of my elderly parents. It is difficult for me to take care of my business and family both as I have to devote more time to my parents.”
The convict’s father said that his son did not kill anybody, but he was implicated. “My son is innocent and he was implicated in the case”, he told mediapersons outside the court.
Avinash Chadda, victim’s counsel, said they will seek capital punishment to the convict.
However, the private school located in Thapar colony of Yamunanagar is being run normally and the management of school did not want to talk about the incident saying it could spread a wrong message among the students.
18-YR-OLD CLASS 12
STUDENT WAS CONVICTED ON TUESDAY OF GUNNING DOWN RITU CHHABRA, 46, IN JANUARY 2018