Man gets 10-yr RI for abducting infant from Mathura rly stn

Agra: A court in Mathura has sentenced a 45-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for abducting a seven-month-old child from Mathura Junction railway station, while acquitting eight others, including a doctor couple from Hathras, who were accused of purchasing the kidnapped infant.Additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Hemendra Bhardwaj said the incident dates back to Aug 24, 2022. The complainant, Radha Singh, a resident of Parkham village in Mathura, was sleeping at the railway station between 4 am and 5 am when she realised that her seven-month-old son was missing. She immediately approached the GRP police station and lodged a complaint. An FIR was registered under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 370 (trafficking of persons) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and an investigation was launched.Police scanned CCTV footage from the station and identified Deep Kumar Sharma, a resident of Hathras, as the one responsible for taking the child away. "On Aug 29, acting on a tip-off, GRP teams traced the missing child in Firozabad. In a joint operation with the local police, they rescued the child and arrested nine people, including Sharma and the couple," the ADGC said.Based on witness testimonies and technical evidence, including CCTV footage, police filed a chargesheet in Oct 2022. The case went to trial after Sharma denied the charges and sought a hearing, claiming he had been falsely implicated in the trafficking case.After hearing arguments, the court of additional sessions judge Neelam Dhaka on Friday found the evidence sufficient only to establish charges of kidnapping and criminal conspiracy against Sharma. It held that "the prosecution failed to prove the allegations of trafficking and illegal purchase of the infant against the remaining accused" and acquitted the eight others, including the couple. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on Sharma. In default of payment, he will have to undergo an additional three months of imprisonment, the ADGC said.