Two get life imprisonment for murder of 8-year-old

An additional sessions court in Surajpur on Monday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the 2011 murder of an eight-year-old boy following a quarrel in the Gadhi Chaukhandi area of Noida’s Sector 58, officials said. 

According to the prosecution, the crime stemmed from a dispute between the children of the two families. The accused, Suneel Saini, 35, and his cousin Umesh Kumar, 34, barged into the victim’s house and fatally attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon on September 21, 2011. The victim, Vickey, sustained grievous injuries, including deep wounds on his neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. 

JP Bhati, additional district government counsel (ADGC), said Vickey’s uncle, Dharmendra Kumar Dubey, lodged a complaint at the Sector 58 police station on the same day, alleging that Suneel and Umesh entered his brother Prince Dubey’s house and attacked the child. “We saw them fleeing the scene, and when we rushed inside, we found Vickey lying in a pool of blood with deep wounds on his neck,” Dubey stated in the complaint.

Police registered a case under Section 302 (murder) and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code, arresting both suspects and seizing the weapon used in the attack. The chargesheet was filed on November 4, 2011, and charges were framed on December 13, 2011. The autopsy report confirmed five deep wounds on the victim’s body.

The prosecution presented nine witnesses, including family members, the doctor, and police officers. Vickey’s mother, Gudiya, testified that Suneel had threatened to kill her son a month prior, following an altercation between the families. Vickey’s father, Prince Dubey, a security guard, stated he was at work during the incident but learnt later about the prior dispute, the FIR said.

Meanwhile, Saini and Kumar’s defence counsel, Shamshad Ali, argued that no independent witnesses were examined. The additional sessions judge, Vikas Nagar, relied on the prosecution’s testimonies and medical evidence to convict the accused. “Suneel and Umesh are sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000 each under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC,” the court said in the order.