Snatching mobile phone lands Chandigarh youth in jail for 7 years

A youth in his early 20s, who had snatched the mobile phone of an auto-rickshaw driver after hailing a ride, has been sentenced to seven years in jail by a local court.

Offences like snatching are increasing and offenders must be dealt with a heavy hand, remarked the court of additional sessions judge Jaibir Singh, while also imposing a fine of ₹25,000 on the convict, Rohit Kumar, a resident of Sector 56.

As per case files, the victim, Mukesh Kumar, who lives in Sector 52, had picked up Rohit from Phase 6 on August 18, 2020. They were headed to Rohit’s destination in Palsora village. On the way, the youth asked Kumar to take him to a house in Sector 56 as he needed to collected a wheat bag. As they reached in front of the house, Rohit snatched his mobile phone and fled on foot.

The snatched mobile phone was recovered from Rohit on his arrest.

During trial, the defence counsel contended that Rohit had been falsely implicated in the case by the complainant due to an old enmity.

However, holding him guilty under Section 379-A (snatching) of the Indian Penal Code, the court observed that the prosecution had been successful in bringing home the guilt against the accused beyond every shadow of reasonable doubt.

The convict prayed for leniency stating that he was a Class 7 pass-out and does the work of wallpaper branding. He claimed that he had not been convicted before. Therefore, he be dealt with leniency in the matter of awarding sentence.

But the court observed that showing undue sympathy towards the convict will not be in the interest of justice.

“The offence committed by the convict has serious repercussions on society as a whole and as argued by the public prosecutor for the state, Hukam Singh, such offences are increasing day by day,” the court observed.

“Such type of convicts should be dealt with a heavy hand and the punishment in their favour should be such which may have deterrent effect on like-minded persons who commit such type of offences just for easy money,” it added.

The court also declined the request of the defence counsel for releasing Rohit on probation, stating that the request cannot be acceded to as there was a minimum sentence of five years prescribed for commission of this offence.