Nikita Tomar murder case: Haryana court sentences convicts to life imprisonment
The 21-year-old woman was shot dead outside her college in Faridabad district last year.
A fast-track court in Haryana’s Faridabad on Friday sentenced two convicts in the Nikita Tomar murder case to life imprisonment, five months after the incident took place, PTI reported.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each on the two men – identified as Touseef and Rehan.
On Wednesday, both of them were held guilty for the murder of Tomar. They were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 366 (kidnapping a woman to compel her into marriage) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, PTI reported. The third accused in the case was acquitted.
On October 27, the two men had shot dead the 21-year-old woman outside her college in Ballabhgarh in Faridabad district of Haryana.
Tomar, a final year BCom student, was coming out of the college after appearing for an exam when the two accused tried to push her into a car at gunpoint. After she refused, the men shot her with a pistol. She died of her injuries during treatment at a hospital.
On November 6, the police in Faridabad had filed a 700-page chargesheet in the case. The court framed the charges against the accused on November 23 under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. The accused had appealed to the Punjab and Haryana Court for re-investigation in the case, but the request was dismissed in February.
Tomar’s family alleged that her killing was linked to “love jihad” – a conspiracy theory espoused by right-wing Hindu activists alleging that Hindu women are forcibly converted by Muslims through marriage. The relatives also said they had filed a police complaint against Touseef in 2018, but the matter was settled later.