71-year-old man wants longer jail term for son who blinded him over property

Bengaluru: Five years after a middle-aged man gouged out both eyes of his elderly father, a city court sentenced him to nine years in prison. “I respect the court’s decision to imprison my son for nine years for gouging my eyes out and making me blind. Being a victim, I feel he should have got sterner punishment. I hope the government will appeal against the trial court’s order and seek life imprisonment for him,” SS Paramesh, now 71 years old, told TOI.The incident occurred in August 2018 at Paramesh’s Shakambarinagar residence in JP Nagar. Abhishek Chetan gouged out the elderly man’s eyes during a fight over property. Self-employed, Chetan wanted a share of his father’s property.Chetan was arrested and charge-sheeted by JP Nagar police. After spending over a year in judicial custody at Bengaluru Central Prison, Chetan came out on bail by the end of 2019. After attending court for some hearings, he went elusive. He was arrested again last week. The following day, a city court sentenced Chetan to nine years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 42,000, failure to pay which would extend his RI by another year. Meanwhile, rendered completely blind, Paramesh, a retired government employee, is living at an undisclosed place with a caretaker. Paramesh told TOI he is happy the court considered his case and sentenced Chetan. “But I want him to get a life term in jail. He has ruined my life for no mistake of mine,” he said.According to Paramesh, Chetan never contacted him after walking out on bail. “The court had warned him to refrain from communicating with me or visiting me. I never heard anything from him in these years.” Paramesh had lost his wife in July 2018, just a few weeks before the attack. “I don’t want anyone to know where I’m living. Only my close relatives have access to me,” he said. “My nephew Manjunath helped me get to the court and attend the hearings.”The court had held Chetan guilty on Monday and reserved its orders on the quantum of punishment to Wednesday. Chetan, then elusive, was arrested by police on Tuesday and produced before the court. Chetan has been convicted under IPC sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 307 (attempt to murder), 329 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort property), 450 (house-trespass in order to commit offence), 341 (wrongfully restraint), and 504 (intentional insult ).
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