New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Convicting a youth of murdering a minor girl because she refused to talk to him, a city court Saturday sentenced him to life imprisonment, with no possibility of a remission till he served 30 years, as his offence was not only “gruesome but diabolic in nature.”
Sentencing Mangal Singh, Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar said that no leniency should be granted to him while he was undergoing imprisonment.

“I am of the considered opinion that the present case can easily be classified a rare case, which falls short off the rarest of rare category. I accordingly hereby sentence convict Singh to rigorous imprisonment for life with the direction that he shall not be considered for being granted remission till he undergoes an actual sentence of 30 years,” the judge said.

A fine of Rs.100,000 was also imposed on Singh, who was accused of killing Ritika in a fit of rage when she refused to talk to him. Singh also injured Ritika’s brother Harry Chaudhary, who intervened to protect his sister.

The incident occured on July 26, 2004 when Ritika, along with her brother and a friend, was going to her school at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Camp at Tilak Vihar in a cycle rickshaw. Singh came on a motor cycle, stopped the cycle rickshaw and told her that he wanted to talk to her in private.

According to the prosecution, Ritika kept quiet, at which he asked her to get down from the rickshaw. Ritika then asked him why he was troubling her. Mangal Singh suddenly took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed her 19 to 20 times.

“I may state that undoubtedly every murder is brutal in nature. However, what is to be seen is as to whether the murder committed is so gruesome and diabolic in nature that there is something more than mere homicide. I may certainly state that repeated number of stab blows as given to deceased by the convict clearly makes the incident to be gruesome and diabolic in nature. The victim was inflicted 20 stab blows and was thus treated with bestiality and cruelty besides being subjected to extreme pain,” the judge said in his order.