Victim’s family moves SC against HC ruling in 2018 Yug murder case

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Yog Raj Sharma

The North News

Shimla, December 12

The family of four-year-old Yug, whose abduction and murder in 2014 shocked Himachal Pradesh, has approached the Supreme Court challenging a recent Himachal Pradesh High Court ruling. The family has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) seeking the death penalty for the accused, saying they were dissatisfied with the High Court’s decision. The petition was filed by Yug’s father, Vinod Gupta, who said the family could not accept the acquittal of one accused and the commutation of death sentences for two others. The Supreme Court has admitted the SLP, and a hearing is expected soon.

In September, the High Court overturned parts of a lower court verdict delivered in 2018 and acquitted one accused, Tejinder Pal, citing lack of evidence, and reduced the death sentences of Chand Sharma and Vikrant Bakshi to life imprisonment. Gupta said the accused who played a “major role” in the crime had been acquitted, and the reduction in punishment undermined the gravity of the offence.

In 2018, a district court had found all three men guilty of kidnapping and murdering Yug and sentenced them to death. The case was later forwarded to the High Court for confirmation, which altered the verdicts after re-examining the evidence. With the matter now before the Supreme Court, the family says it hopes for “complete justice”.