Monetary help for cabbie’s family
Court says family innocent and helpless, seeks provisions for care of aged parents, wife and minor kids
NEW DELHI: Noting that a crime results in not just one victim but also victimises the convict’s family who may be helpless in his absence, a Delhi court on Tuesday ordered compensation for the family of former Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav who was sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping and raping a passenger last year.
“I am conscious of the fact that the family of the convict, about whom he did not give a single thought while committing the offence in question, would suffer greatly due to his acts. Though monetary relief cannot be an adequate compensation for the helpless and innocent family members of the convict, yet having considered their plight in view of the offence and sentences imposed upon him as a consequence thereof, I deem it appropriate to direct DLSA (Delhi Legal Services Authority) to consider and make provisions for care and maintenance of the aged parents wife and minor children of the convict,” said additional sessions judge Kaveri Baweja while sentencing Yadav for kidnapping and raping a 26-year-old passenger.
The court was moved by defence counsel DK Misra plea putting forth the plight of the convict’s family while arguing for leniency.
Pointing towards Yadav’s aged father, who had been standing in the back along with his daughter-in-law and two granddaughters through the hearing, Misra said, “He (Yadav) has his own in built fear mechanism: he has a family and kids.”
While arguing against maximum punishment of life imprisonment, Misra said, “Won’t even 10 years (the minimum punishment in Yadav’s case) instill fear in a man who knows that his wife and children are roaming around penniless? Won’t that be enough?”
To this, the judge asked Misra about Yadav’s family. “Is his father drawing a pension?” she asked, adding the same question for the convict’s mother.
Misra said “his dad is a retired teacher and pensioner but the mother is an old lady and not a pensioner. His wife doesn’t have any job”. The lawyer said the convict’s father had suffered great losses already. “He has lost four sons and one is mentally challenged,” said the lawyer.
“In fact, they would like to say a few words,” he told the judge. Yadav’s wife came to the front of the courtroom along with her father-in-law. The judge, however, asked them to sit back down.
She asked about the convict’s children and was told that Yadav had three children — two daughters who were present and one son who was “totally traumatised” and so had not come to the hearings from the start.