The Sessions Court on Thursday convicted 30-year-old foreign national Nooriya Haveliwala for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, two years after she caused the death of a police sub-inspector and a biker while driving drunk.
She has also been fined over Rs 4 lakh, which will be paid to the families of the persons she killed.
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Nooriya escaped conviction under the NDPS act after Sessions Judge IM Bohari found that there had been procedural lapses on part of the police while collecting evidence which would otherwise have proved she had taken drugs.
NRI beautician Nooriya Haveliwala (File pic)
Following her conviction and subsequent sentencing, Nooriya, dressed in a white-and-blue salwar kameez, wept softly in the witness box. She pleaded with the judge to show her mercy given that she was the only child and had an 80-year-old mother to care for.
Defence lawyer Ashwin Thool, who represented Haveliwala, informed the Court that his client had also started a trust to raise awareness about drunken driving cases and had consistently sought to give back to society after her crime. Thool sought to have the minimum sentence imposed on Haveliwala.
Additional Public Prosecutor Kiran Arvind Raikar asked for 10 years' imprisonment, the maximum punishment under the 304-II IPC section. Speaking to MiD-DAY, Raikar said, "I prayed for the maximum sentence as people need to take care. They must not enjoy their driving by spoiling others' lives."
"(Haveliwala) will certainly go in appeal before the Bombay High Court," Thool told the media.
Haveliwala's father, Yusuf, passed away in May 2010 owing to the strain of his daughter's arrest.
Haveliwala had caused the death of on-duty police sub-inspector Dinanath Shinde and biker Afjal Ibrahim, who had been stopped by Shinde during a late night bandobast. Two other policemen, Ashok Shinde and Shailendra Jadhav, suffered serious injuries, including multiple fractures.
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