Nido Tania case: victim's father moves HC over dropped charges

New Delhi, Jan 8 PTI: A Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh and father of Nido Tania, a youth who died early last year after he was allegedly beaten up by some persons at Lajpat Nagar here, has moved the Delhi High Court against the trial court's decision to drop the charges under the SC/ST Act against the accused.

Nido Pavitra has moved the high court seeking quashing of the September 25, 2014, order of the sessions court which had held that no charge could be framed against the accused under the relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

19-year-old Tania, a BA first year student in a private university here, had an altercation with some shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar market here on January 29, 2014, after they made fun of his hair style. Following the altercation, the shopkeepers had allegedly thrashed him. He was brought dead to AIIMS the next day.

The death of Tania had evoked outrage among the people of the northeast living in the national capital who alleged police had failed to protect him.

Initially, the police had booked the four adult accused, Farman, Pawan, Sunder Singh and Sunny Uppal, under section 302 (murder) of IPC after the postmortem report showed Tania died due to injuries on his head and face caused by a blunt object. The agency had also invoked charges under the SC/ST Act.

However, during filing of the charge sheet, CBI had dropped the murder charges against the accused, saying Tania's killing was not premeditated but a result of an altercation over breaking of a glass counter of a shop in the market.

Three minors, who had also allegedly assaulted Tania, are facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board here. "It is humbly submitted that the trial court had adopted wrong interpretation of the law and refused to frame charges against the accused persons under the provisions of the SC/ST Act despite the fact that the entire assault which resulted in the untimely demise of a young man was unequivocally and clearly motivated by the accused perceiving the deceased as belonging to Scheduled Tribe," the petition, filed by Advocate Prashant Mendiratta, said.