Trial court sees Katara murder as honour killing

NEW DELHI: The trial court saw Nitish Katara's murder as an honour killing and one borne out of a "prevalent gender bias" because Bharti Yadav exercised her own discretion in choosing her male partner. On a day when Bharti Yadav defended her brothers in an exclusive interview with TOI, claiming they were innocent, additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur released the concluding part of her judgement convicting Vikas and Vishal. While describing the motive for the murder, ASJ Kaur concluded Bharti had had a subordinate role in her family. "The motive for Nitish's murder can thus be better understood in the context of the socio-cultural framework of society where in some sections from birth...they are kept unaware of their rights and made to play a subordinate role to their brothers," the court noted. Since Bharti made an independent decision to choose her partner, it wasn't acceptable to her brothers who then killed the man she loved, the court reasoned, adding, "It isn't digested by elder males of the family like brothers (in such sections of society) that a female exercises her right to choose a male partner of her own choice which often leads to shocking and macabre consequences." The judgement also speaks about various strategems adopted by Vikas and Vishal throughout the trial to influence witnesses and browbeat the prosecution, something which was always talked about but now is openly on judicial record. "The conduct of the accused has been to mislead the court and to put pressure on witnesses or to give them temptations so that they don't depose against them in court," the judge noted, viewing it as an additional link in the chain of circumstances indicting them. She was clear that attempts to subvert justice had been made and this went against the accused notwithstanding their protestations of innocence. As if intimidation of witnesses wasn't enough, the court noted, even the special public prosecutor wasn't spared with the accused and their lawyers putting him under intense pressure. ASJ Kaur recalled how SPP B S Joon was slapped with a defamation notice demanding crores of rupees for allegedly making a false statement and harming the reputation of the convicts. The suit was later tossed out by Delhi High Court as devoid of any merits but worked as a tactic to put pressure on Joon hoping that he wouldn't be able to conduct his case properly. abhinav.garg@timesgoup.com
31 May 2008, 0506 hrs IST, Abhinav Garg,TNN
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