A special electricity court here has sentenced a man to one-year imprisonment and fastened a civil liability of Rs.12.76 lakh upon him for stealing power directly from a pole for industrial purposes at Kalyanpuri in East Delhi in 2006.
The court upheld the charge against Mukesh Kumar of stealing about 17 kW of power to the tune of around Rs.16 lakh from BSES Yamuna Power Limited pole.
The BSES enforcement officials had found the illegal drawing of power by the convict during a raid at his premises.
However, the court took a lenient stand while sentencing him in view of his submission that he was facing financial constraints; is the single earning member of his family with two school-going children and that he had no past record of conviction for any offence. It also waived off the fine as provided in the Electricity Act, 2003. The law provides for a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in such cases.
“In view of the above-mentioned reasons, I take a lenient view against the convict on point of sentence and I consider it appropriate to sentence him to simple imprisonment for a period of year only. I do not consider it appropriate to impose the punishment of fine also upon the convict,” Additional Sessions Judge Shahabuddin said in his order.
“I am of the considered view that the civil liability amount against the convict comes to the extent of Rs. 12,76,809 lakh in this case,” the Judge said while fixing the civil liability on the convict.
