Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
International

British Sikh gets 9 years in jail for plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth II

Darpan News Desk, 06 Oct, 2023 12:24 PM
  • British Sikh gets 9 years in jail for plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth II

London, Oct 6 (IANS) A crossbow-wielding British Sikh who had threatened to "assassinate the Queen in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre" in 2021, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by a UK court.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, had admitted to treason charges in February this year for scaling the Windsor Castle walls and telling royal guards on Christmas Day 2021 that he was there to kill the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Chail, who identified himself as an "Indian Sikh" in a social media video that emerged soon after the incident, reportedly suffered from mental health issues and was partly inspired to attack the Queen inspired by the Star Wars films.

A London court heard that Chail fantasised about killing the late monarch since adolescence, and had shared this information with an artificial intelligence-powered "girlfriend" he named Sarai.

Justice Nicholas Hilliard said despite conflicting diagnoses from different experts, he concluded that Chail lost touch with reality and had become psychotic, but that the seriousness of the crimes required him to serve prison time, ABC News reported.

According to the report, Chail will first return to a psychiatric facility where he has been receiving treatment, and if deemed to be well enough in the future, he will serve the rest of his sentence in prison.

“The defendant harbored homicidal thoughts which he acted on before he became psychotic," Hilliard was quoted as saying by ABC News.

“His intention was not just to harm or alarm the sovereign — but to kill her.”

Chail had also written in a journal that if the Queen was "unobtainable" he would "go for" the prince as a "suitable figurehead", in an apparent reference to King Charles III.

He had scaled the perimeter of the grounds with a nylon rope ladder, some two hours before his arrest.

He was wearing a hood and mask and was carrying a crossbow loaded with a bolt, with the safety catch off and ready to fire.

The prosecution told the court that the Supersonic X-Bow weapon he was carrying had the potential to cause "serious or fatal injuries".

The Queen was in her private apartments at Windsor Castle at the time of the intrusion.

MORE International ARTICLES

The UN’s top human rights body holds urgent debate on Ukraine-Russia conflict

The UN’s top human rights body holds urgent debate on Ukraine-Russia conflict
The meeting is set to culminate in a vote Friday on whether to set up a three-person expert panel. The vote by the 47-member-state body, which counts Ukraine and Russia as members, offers a bellwether of international sentiment about the Kremlin's invasion.

The UN’s top human rights body holds urgent debate on Ukraine-Russia conflict

Stocks end another bumpy day lower and crude oil prices ease

Stocks end another bumpy day lower and crude oil prices ease
The Nasdaq fell 1.6% as technology companies led the way lower. Less risky sectors like utilities gained ground. Major indexes had rallied a day earlier after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he favored a modest interest rate increase at the Fed’s policy meeting in two weeks.

Stocks end another bumpy day lower and crude oil prices ease

US hits Putin allies, press secretary with new sanctions

US hits Putin allies, press secretary with new sanctions
Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin. The U.S. State Department also announced it was imposing visa bans on 19 Russian oligarchs and dozens of their family members and close associates.

US hits Putin allies, press secretary with new sanctions

Indian students in Ukraine run out of food and essentials

Indian students in Ukraine run out of food and essentials
An Indian medical student, Faisal, sent a video to IANS narrating his ordeal in the north-eastern city of Sumy in Ukraine. In the video, he said that around 500 Indian students are stuck in Sumy, which is 350 km from Kiev.

Indian students in Ukraine run out of food and essentials

Leave Kharkiv under all circumstances by 6 pm: Indian Embassy to citizens

Leave Kharkiv under all circumstances by 6 pm: Indian Embassy to citizens
The embassy stated: "Urgent advisory to all Indian nationals in Kharkiv. For their safety and security they must leave Kharkiv immediately. Proceed to Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka as soon as possible."

Leave Kharkiv under all circumstances by 6 pm: Indian Embassy to citizens

Biden speech eases Canada's EV anxiety, a little

Biden speech eases Canada's EV anxiety, a little
The U.S. president renewed his call for tax credits to lower the cost of electric vehicles, but made no mention of preferring American-made cars and trucks.

Biden speech eases Canada's EV anxiety, a little