Call it delayed justice or divine retribution, but nearly a decade after a spoilt brat threw acid on the face of a young college girl, a Kanpur court awarded a ten-year term for the accused.
Holding Abhinav, the son of then deputy sales tax commissioner Rajesh Pratap Misra, 'guilty', Kanpur Fast Track Court Judge Pramod Kumar pronounced the verdict in the open court in Kanpur on Wednesday.
While ruling a 10-year imprisonment for Abhinav, the court also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakhs on him.
Abhinav's accomplice Vipin Misra and his car driver Rajesh were awarded 8 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 2 lakhs each.
Fifty per cent of the fine would have to be paid to victim Arti Srivastava, the court ruled.
Angered over his repulsed advances towards her, Abhinav doused Arti's face with acid, while she was returning from a coaching institute in Nawabganj locality on June 27, 2000.
A case was registered against Abhinav that very night.
However the Allahabad High Court stayed the proceedings of the trial court on June 2, 2004.
After struggling for five years, the victim succeeded in getting the stay vacated, and this time, the HC also directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings following which the final verdict came from a fast track court.
Arti, who had since then shifted with her retired professor father and family to Gwalior, was present in the court at the time of the pronouncement.
"I do welcome the judgement, but I strongly feel that that punishment was not enough," she told rediff.com.
"I will make an appeal to the HC to seek a life term for Abhinav," she added.
