Family jailed over water war

The convicts had an altercation with their neighbour in Sangam Vihar over filling their buckets in 2006 summer from a public water tanker

Five women of a family, including a 65-year-old, have been sentenced to a year in jail by a Delhi court on the charge of dacoity following an allegation against them by their neighbour in the wake of a row over getting water from a public tanker.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Bimla Kumari jailed 65-year-old Rahmat Bee, a resident of Sangam Vihar near Timarpur in North Delhi, and four other female members of the family on charges of dacoity.

"They (convicts) are not hardened criminals. They are not habitual robbers/dacoits. But the offence of dacoity has been committed by them in a quarrel which took place on a trivial issue of water," the court said.
The others who were jailed included Rahmat Bee's son Sajid Ali, 45, his wife Rukshana, 30 and his three sisters-in-law Muslim Bano, 30, Sahin Parveen, 34 and Sabia, 33.

Besides jailing the five women, the court termed the family's sole male member Ali as "main accused" and sentenced him to three years in jail. The court also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on Ali saying the interest of justice would be met if he is dealt with "a little severely." The five women too were imposed a fine of Rs5,000 each.

The family had an altercation with their neighbour in Sangam Vihar over filling their buckets in 2006 summer from a public water tanker and in a fit of rage they ended up entering into their neighbour's house and creating a ruckus. The neighbour, in turn, accused them of looting various articles and properties from their house and named all the six members of the family as trespassers.