Victim’s poem gets murder convict life term
NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old murder convict will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing his 17-year-old school junior. The court hinged on two pieces of evidence — a poem of the victim girl and a YouTube song in which a youth kills his girlfriend — to deliver this verdict.
Additional sessions judge Virender Kumar Bansal called Sarthak Kapoor a “jilted lover” who wanted the girl back at any cost. And on watching the song, which was placed on record by the prosecution, the court said, “This clearly shows and depicts his motive and also what he is going to do and ultimately he did.”
Police had said that Kapoor had pressed the victim Shreya Sharma’s neck against the wall with her elbow as shown in the song.
The poem was reproduced by the court in its sentencing order after forensic tests confirmed it was hers. It took note that Kapoor had been harassing Sharma much before he killed her. “It was a well-planned, cold-blooded murder. He communicated to her on Instagram his intentions to kill her and executed the same as a professional in a cold-blooded manner without using a weapon,” the court said. Kapoor was also slapped with a Rs 2-lakh fine.
Sharma, a Class XII student, was found dead near her house in Rohini's Sector 17 after she went missing on August 16 last year after going for coaching classes. When all efforts to find Sharma proved unsuccessful, the parents called up the police. Upon inquiry, Kapoor confessed to his crime and took the police to the spot where Sharma’s parents identified her body.
There were instances of harassment and injury that came out during investigation. In April 2017, the first instance of harassment had come to light when Sharma’s chemistry teacher had informed her parents that Kapoor would inflict injuries on her outside the coaching centre. During the trial, one of Sharma’s friends had testified that Sharma had been “disturbed” and “depressed” due to the harassment.
The police had also relied on CCTV footage showing Sharma’s final moments with Kapoor. The footage, judge Bansal ruled, wasn’t tampered with and Sharma and Kapoor were seen together around 5.01pm. “The postmortem report also confirms the time of death as around the time when they were last seen together... I found that firstly, a black bag is visible in the CCTV footage... The pendrive in which the CCTV footage was taken is proved... From CCTV itself it is clear that Shreya at that time was carrying one bag,” the judge held.
The defence counsel submitted that evidence was planted on Kapoor and nothing was recovered from his house. “Police knew where the body was and they manipulated the entire story,” it was submitted. The court disagreed. “Even otherwise it is quite natural that a child going for tuition must be carrying with her...a small bag which was being carried by Shreya also,” the court said.
It sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment and specified that it would be for the remainder of his life.
courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
