A court here has convicted a man for extortion and “posing as a militant” while attempting to extort money from a family in Pattan area around 16 years ago.
The first additional judge Baramulla, Naseer Ahmad, convicted Javed Ahmad Teli under section 387 and 447 RPC and sentenced him to simple imprisonment of one year and a fine of Rs 12,000.
As per the case details, Teli, a resident of Baba Teing, Pattan had entered the house of Irshad Ahmad Bhat during the night of 16 July 2004 and while claiming to be a member of militant outfit, demanding Rs 50,000 from the family.
However, the complainant with the help of neighbours caught hold of the accused and recovered an I-Card of police department from his possession. The accused was later handed over to the police by the villagers.
A case (FIR no 75 of 2004) under section 388, 456 RPC was registered in police station Pattan. The court after hearing both the prosecution and the defence counsel observed that the accused was guiltily and convicted him for the offences under section 387 and 447 RPC.
“The accused has committed the serious offences of criminal trespass and attempting to extort money from the complainant by claiming himself to be affiliated with the LeT outfit. The accused in fact was also in possession of an I-Card of police department. These types of offenders need to be dealt with serious punishment so that a signal goes to people of the society,” reads the judgement.
While pronouncing the sentence, the court observed that that the convict has been charged on 28 July 2009 and till date his conduct has remained satisfactory and the delay in the trial cannot be attributed to him. As such, the court said, the accused was sentenced to simple imprisonment of one year and fined Rs 10,000 for the offence punishable under section 387 RPC and simple imprisonment for one month and a fine of Rs 2000, for the offence under section 447 RPC. Both the punishments shall run concurrently, said the court.