In the court of additional district and sessions judge, Rajeev Goyal, the prosecution demanded: “As Harmehtab has been held guilty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, he should be awarded capital punishment or he should get life imprisonment till death along with a heavy fine.”
The quantum of punishment was to be pronounced at 11am on Tuesday but judge Rajeev Goyal will now do so on Wednesday.
On the other hand, seeking a lenient view, Harmehtab’s advocate NPS Waraich said, “I bow before the court’s decision and concede that in spite of my best efforts, I could not convince it of my client’s innocence.”
To this, the judge said, “You couldn’t convince, that’s part and parcel of the case. Otherwise, my judgment is not final. It is subject to the decision by the high court. Whatever, I felt, I have written.”
“You worked really hard on your case and you made me work harder. Eh chalda rehnda hai (This goes on). Let my judgment be challenged before the high court,” the judge said.
Waraich argued, “It’s not in the category of rarest of rare cases. The crime is not against society. It’s an individual crime that was not for pecuniary benefits, not for greed of property or money. It was the result of a sudden quarrel, no pre-mediation from any circumstances. My client (Harmehtab) was not sitting in the driver’s seat and he had no control over the offending vehicle, only exhortation has been attributed to him.”
On Monday, the court convicted Harmehtab, who is the grandson of erstwhile Pepsu’s chief minister Gian Singh Rarewala, for the murder of Sen, who was run over by a BMW car several times following a brawl at a party in a posh residential area of Sector 9, Chandigarh, on February 9, 2017. Harmehtab had instigated his friend, Balraj Singh Randhawa, who is absconding, to crush Sen under the tyres following a scuffle.
There was an old enmity between Sen’s friend Gagandeep Singh Shergill and Harmehtab. Sen had confronted Harmehtab for misbehaving with Shergill and this angered him, leading to the murder.
Prasanta Patnaik