New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that a person can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment for kidnapping another person to extract ransom even if the accused had not caused any hurt to the victim.
It is sufficient if the act of the accused had caused apprehension in the minds of the victim's relatives or others that death would be caused if the demand of ransom was not met, the apex court said.
A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Asok Kumar Ganguly said if the offence of kidnapping for ransom as provided under Section 364 A was proved, then the accused can be sentenced to life imprisonment or even death as prescribed under the statute.
The apex court passed the ruling while dismissing the appeal filed by P Liaquat Ali Khan who challenged the life imprisonment imposed on him for kidnapping a three-year-old girl from a school in Andhra Pradesh to extract a ransom of Rs one crore from her parents.
The girl, Keerthi, studying in a nursery class was kidnapped by the convict from her class on July 3, 2001. He was subsequently arrested and the little girl was recovered from his hideout.
On the basis of the evidence produced by the prosecution, a sessions court in Kurnool district convicted Khan for the offence and sentenced him to life imprisonment.