The District and Sessions Court in Kupwara on Wednesday sentenced a Pakistani national, Hanzulla Yaseen, to 10-year rigorous imprisonment in a case of attempted murder of a security officer in 2016. The 27-year-old from Bahawalpur in Pakistan has been in custody since June 2016.
The order noted that the period of detention served by the convict will be set off from the period of sentence. Yaseen has been in custody since June 20, 2016 and will be eligible for release by mid next year.
He has also been sentenced to 10-year RI under Section 7/25 Arms Act and five-year RI for conviction under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946. The court directed that “in view of the fact that all the offences arise out of one composite transaction and considering the circumstances noted in the judgment, all the sentences imposed above shall run concurrently”.
For attempted murder, offences under the Arms Act and the Foreigners Act, he has been fined Rs 20,000 and in default of this payment he will undergo “simple imprisonment” for one month.
In its verdict, the court cited the nature of the offences, the manner in which they were committed, the “voluntary and unambiguous confession of the convict”, absence of any injury to the patrolling personnel, as well as “the mitigating circumstances reflected in the record”.
It also noted that though the offences are grave and strike at the security of the state, “the material on record, including the circumstances discussed in the judgment, clearly indicates that the case does not fall within the limited category of the most aggravated forms of attempted murder for which the extreme penalty of imprisonment for life is ordinarily warranted”.
After serving the sentence, according to the order issued Wednesday, the convict “shall be dealt with as per the provisions of the Foreigners Act 1946, including repatriation to his parent country Pakistan”.
