'Parliament should award death penalty for crimes against elderly'

New Delhi, April 12 (IANS) A Delhi court Thursday urged parliament to award capital punishment in cases where a senior citizen is the victim.

Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar said: "This court feels that our wise representatives in the parliament should provide for capital punishment in such cases also where senior citizens are the victims, so as to teach a lesson to the offenders and to deter others from indulging in crime against senior citizens."

The court's observation came while awarding 10 years rigorous imprisonment to Sunil Kumar and Arjun Sharma in a robbery case. The court ruled that law has to change with the passage of time.

The court said that the victim was a senior citizen aged 70. "The manner in which the old helpless lady was blindfolded, confined in the bathroom and robbed, gives a jolt to the judicial conscience of the court," said judge Kumar.

The court added that day and night senior citizens are being targeted by criminals.

"We cannot say that senior citizens are fully safe. State is duty bound to ensure them safety," said the court.

The court said that the object is to maintain peace in the society and punish the wrongdoers.

The court recommended that if the present remedy to prevent or curb such crimes is inadequate, the concerned authorities have to ponder over for a better remedy.

"Even a doctor would enhance the dose of the drug to provide relief to his patient. After all, epidemics require urgent and serious remedies," said the court.

According to the prosecution case, on May 19, 2009 evening, Kumar and Sharma with Ravi(absconding) trespassed in the elderly woman's house in Karol Bagh.