Senior citizens are vulnerable targets, says court

New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) Expressing concern over increasing crime against senior citizens who become vulnerable targets as they live alone, a court here awarded life imprisonment to four people for dacoity and killing a 76-year-old man.

The court was hearing a 2012 dacoity case in which Kishan Lal Manchanda, 76, a resident of Gujrawalan Town in west Delhi was killed.

Manchanda suffered from multiple ailments, including coronary artery disease. His wife, Kamla Devi, 70, was paralytic from the waist down.

According to police, Kali Charan, a fruit seller used to visit the couple and, in course of time, befriended them. He also got his sister Bimlesh to work at the old couple's house.

The prosecution said Kali Charan hatched a criminal conspiracy along with his sister and five others and committed dacoity June 9, 2012, killing Manchanda.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau, in an order dated April 16, said: "In the present case, the victims were soft vulnerable targets since the victim Kishan Lal Manchanda was an old man aged about 75 years and his wife Kamla Devi was paralytic waist down and was totally dependent upon an attendant."

The judge noted that the manner in which the offence was committed in broad daylight showed that the convicts held no respect for the law of the land.

The court said the convicts deserve no leniency and sentenced four of them - Kali Charan, Ram Kumar, Chander Bhan and Amit - to life imprisonment and further slapped a fine of Rs. 14,000 each on them. Bimlesh was awarded four years' jail.

They were held guilty on the basis of the witnesses' testimonies and medical, electronic evidence like CCTV footage, call detail records and other circumstantial evidence.

The court acquitted Ram Kumar observing there was lack of evidence against him, while another accused Anil is absconding.