Mumbai: Youth who spent 4 years in jail as undertrial gets shorter sentence on pleading guilty

A 24-year-old who spent four years in prison as an undertrial pleaded guilty in a case of assaulting and hurting a police constable. He was sentenced to a shorter time in prison on conviction and will now be able to get a release as the period will be deducted from the time he spent in prison.

Kamluddin Shaikh from Goregaon’s Santosh Nagar was accused along with three others of assaulting constable Eknath Sawant attached to the Dindoshi police station.

Sawant had suffered an injury to his right hand’s finger in the incident. Shaikh and his co-accused had been booked under IPC Sec 353 (assault or criminal force on a public servant to deter from discharging duty) and Sec 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant). While Shaikh had faced trial, his co-accused are absconding. Shaikh was arrested on June 1, 2018, and was since then in prison.

On Aug 11, a Dindoshi sessions court noted in its judgment that he was produced before it for framing of charges against him so that the trial could begin. Additional Sessions Judge AR Qureishi stated that Shaikh pleaded guilty. The court then held that the offences stood proven against him.

When being heard on the point of sentence, Shaikh told the court that he has been in jail for a long and requested leniency and a release on account of deduction of the sentence from the period of four years he had already spent in prison.

Judge Qureishi sentenced him to three years in jail for causing hurt to the policeman and noted that he has been in jail since June 1, 2018, and further directed that his sentence be deducted. Shaikh will be able to secure a release now.

Published on: Saturday, August 20, 2022, 11:34 PM IST