Arguments deferred in Nithari case

GHAZIABAD - Arguments on the quantum of punishment to domestic help Surender Koli, convicted for the rape and murder of seven-year-old Arti from Noida’s Nithari village, have been deferred following a lawyers strike, an official said Wednesday.

The arguments were deferred after Ghaziabad bar association lawyers struck work to voice their protest against their colleagues in Kanpur being baton-charged.

A special court had Tuesday convicted Koli of the rape and murder of Arti who had disappeared from her home in September 2006. She was amongst the 19 women and children from Noida’s Nithari village whose body parts were found in a drain.