ISIS terrorists who plotted to attack the Ardh Kumbh in Haridwar and malls in Delhi-NCR have been sentenced to just seven years imprisonment. A judiciary that believes ‘every sinner has a future’ can be expected to display such leniency towards terrorists.

Reporting on the sentencing ToI (Times of India) notes:

A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced five people, who were earlier convicted for planning to carry out a blast at Ardh Kumbh in Haridwar in 2016, to seven years in jail.

Parveen Singh, additional sessions judge, sentenced Akhlakur Rehman, Mohd Azeemushan, Md Meraj, Mohd Osama, and Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed, to seven years in jail and imposed fines of various amounts on each of them.

Earlier, the court convicted them in the case for offenses under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, Section 18 (conspiracy), Section 20 (punishment for being a member of a terrorist gang or organization) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and under various sections of the Explosive Substances Act…

…Vishal Dwivedi, the NIA’s public prosecutor, had sought maximum punishment for the convicts on the grounds that had their plan succeeded, it would have caused many innocent people to lose their lives.

Advocates Qausar Khan and Prashant Prakash, appearing for convict Sayyed, had sought leniency in the sentencing on the grounds that their client has shown remorse for his act, wanted to return to the mainstream, be productive in society, and wanted to support his family (after his release from jail).

“It is further to be kept in mind that at the time of the commission of the offense and their arrest, the convicts were of a very young and impressionable age and, at this stage, their contention that they were swayed by propaganda and had taken a wrong path due to their immaturity cannot be brushed aside,” the court said in the order.

Such leniency and justifications such as having shown ‘remorse’, immature, etc send out a wrong message. It must also be noted that these were educated people from well-to-do families who took up arms. The judiciary letting off rapists and terrorists will only lead to the common man losing faith in it.