Suhaib Ilyasi, producer and anchor of the popular India’s most wanted television show, has been given life sentence for the murder of his wife. The verdict was pronounced on Wednesday (December 20) by Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra, ASJ, Karkardooma Court.
While coming to court, Ilyasi, talked to journalists
and said that he was confident that there has been a mistake and that he was definitely not getting capital punishment that the lawyer had been demanding.
When Suhaib entered the court, with the investigating officer also present, the petitioner requested for punishment of death. The counsel said he made a good image in front of the public and then he planned the murder.
The counsel for Suhaib quoted three judgments and also stated that he was conveying a message by his serial. He said more than 50 criminals had been caught.
The counsel quoted a judgment from a US court, before he quoted the Rajendra Prasad case of 1992. He said that the person was distressed and mentally harassed. He shall not be liable for capital punishment in this case.
His counsel requested minimum punishment with the help of these case laws. He pleaded that when the conviction is only based on circumstantial evidence and has even a single fraction of doubt, this will come under life, not death.
He said capital punishment is only for rarest of rare cases. And he said that without due examination this case cannot fall under the ambit of rarest of the rare cases.
He mentioned the case of death and rape of a four-year-old child, in which the court gave life imprisonment.
He echoed the pleas of the accused, saying: “I was a producer. I was running a magazine which covers bureaucrats. Capital punishment is not for me. Kindly grant lesser punishment.
At 3.45pm the court ordered life imprisonment, as well as a compensation of Rs 10 lakhs and and cost of Rs 2 lakhs.
—India Legal Bureau