A very agonizing news has come forward which refreshed the bad memories from the past. Around 19 years back, there was a case named “Nithari Killings” which was based on rape, cannibalism, child trafficking, pornography, and murder. On 16th October, Allahabad High Court released the 2 prime accused suspects of this case based on ‘lack of evidence’. Was it a good decision?
Details of Prime accused:
The two primary accused were Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher. Koli was a house-help of Moninder Singh. While Surendra Koli was charged with several murders and rape cases; Pandher was charged with only 2 cases. Koli was locked up in Ghaziabad jail and Pandher in Noida jail.
Both the accused were given death sentences by the trial courts i.e. CBI special court. They applied mercy petition in 2014 which was also rejected by then-President Pranab Mukherjee.
Somehow in the following September, the court stayed the orders of execution considering ‘unforeseen delay’ and later this punishment was reduced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court.
Nithari Killing Case:
This case is also known as the 2005-2006 Noida Serial Murder case. The police found out about this case after 9 skeletons of children were found in the drain near Pandher’s house on 29 Dec 2006. After investigation, several other bodies were recovered. CBI took over the case within 10 days.
Discovery of murders:
Police were informed by the people that the dead bodies of 2 missing children and a floating hand were found in a drain. Already several missing reports were lodged by the police from a nearby slum called ‘Nithari’ and as soon as the case came up, everybody rushed with the photographs of their missing acquaintance in the hope of finding them.
Child pornography and cannibalism:
(Cannibalism: It is an act of eating individuals from the same species. Here, it refers to a human being eating flesh or organs of another human.)
CBI had also charged the accused with child pornography and cannibalism taking some of the references into account. Like there was a proper computer system with a webcam and Pandher’s photograph with nude children. But the picture was found out to his grandchildren’ and so he was cleared against these charges.
A doctor, living in their neighbourhood, was investigated in case the case was about organ trading. The doctor was accused of the same crimes 7 years back which increased the suspicion of the CBI. But the court cleared the doctor and Pandher against these charges cause they were was no strong evidence to prove it.
Koli’s Narco test revelations:
Surendra Koli was taken to the nearest Directorate of Forensic Science for the Narco test in which he confessed his craving to “kill, cut, and eat” which had suddenly arisen because of Pandher. According to Indian Express, he said that he felt the urges; the demon inside him had woken up. According to the reports, he was declared ‘necrophiliac’ in which the person develops intimated or sexual interests towards corpses.
He was also found to be suffering from ‘necrophagy’ which is similar to cannibalism. Koli had confessed his failed attempts at eating a boy’s liver whom he had mistakenly killed confusing him with a girl. He also tried to eat the flesh of humans twice after boiling them in a pressure cooker.
He confessed to making 13 sexual attempts on the victim, detaching 11 heads from the body and throwing them in the gallery, cutting 14 bodies into small pieces, and throwing them away in the drain, reported by Indian Express. Koli also explained how he would strangle the ‘call girls’ and make them non-responsive so that he could carry on with his sexual attempts. And if any girl would wake up in between, he would immediately kill them.
Pandher’s involvement:
However, after the Narco test, Moninder Pandher was cleared of all the charges as an accomplice to Koli because he was found to be out of town whenever the murders were executed. Pandher was later charged for involvement in prostitution, tampering with the evidence, and bribing the police officials. Surendra Koli did confess his crime of killing 6 children and sexually abusing a woman named “Payal”. Pandher was soon taken into custody related to the “Payal’s case” too.
Given the abomination of the crime, the question here arises if the ruling of the High Court was correct. What impact can it bring on the society?
