Katara murder case: Supreme Court confirms 25 years jail to Vikas Yadav

New Delhi: The Supreme Court while strongly deprecating honour killings, has upheld the award of 25 years sentence to Vikas Yadav for the murder of Katara, who was in love with Vikas’s sister. The Delhi High Court while modifying the death sentence, enhanced the life sentence to 25 years and additional five years for destroying evidence.

A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C. Nagappan, dismissing his appeal, however, said the sentence of additional five years under IPC Section 201 (for causing disappearance of evidence) would run concurrently and not consecutively as ordered by the Delhi High Court. It will mean that he will undergo 25 years in jail. Yadav’s acquaintance Sukdev was awarded 20 years sentence. Last year, the apex court had upheld the conviction but took up the issue of sentence only.

In its judgment on Monday, the Bench said from the findings it is clear that the crime was committed in a planned and cold blooded manner with the motive that has emanated due to feeling of some kind of unwarranted superiority based on caste feeling that has blinded the thought of “choice available” to a sister — a representative of women as a class.

The Bench pointed out that the High Court in its judgment of conviction has unequivocally held that it is a “honour killing” and the said findings apart from being put to rest, also gets support from the evidence brought on record.