New Delhi: After a trial spanning over 21 years, a Delhi court has sentenced two elderly men accused of smuggling gold bars to 28 days simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 each.
"The onus of proving the existence of adverse motive on the part of the prosecution was upon the accused, which they have not been able to discharge and further the seizure of gold bars from them has been duly proved in accordance with law," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau said in an order last week.
The court while convicting, however, took lenient view of the age of 60-year-old Gyan Prakash Gupta and 58-year-old Jyoti Prasad and said "the ends of justice would be met if the accused are sentenced for a period of 28 days and a fine of Rs 25,000 each".
Both the accused had suffered the agony of trial for over 21 years and used to appear regularly before the court, it also noted while accepting their leniency plea.
The court also expressed unhappiness over the manner of interrogation by the Customs officials as the accused had complained that they were tortured to write self-incriminating statements and refused to rely on these as evidence.
"The manner in which statements were recorded cannot be said to be voluntary and the medical evidence on record suggest that the accused were beaten with blunt objects and statements were extracted from them," it said.
However, the prosecution succeeded in proving the recovery of 16 gold bars from the accused bearing foreign marking on August 24, 1985 at New Delhi Railway Station and the latter failed in rebutting their guilt, the court noted.
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