Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 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

U.S. pressing ahead with critical minerals plan

U.S. pressing ahead with critical minerals plan
The announcement marks this week's one-year anniversary of a supply chain review that found the U.S. is overly dependent on foreign sources, especially China.

U.S. pressing ahead with critical minerals plan

Florida man indicted on human smuggling charges

Florida man indicted on human smuggling charges
Court documents allege there were also two undocumented Indian nationals in the van, along with snacks and provisions. Not far away, in southern Manitoba, RCMP and border officials discovered four frozen bodies, later identified as a couple and their two children from India, who investigators believe were part of a larger group making their way to the United States.

Florida man indicted on human smuggling charges

Students from UP in Ukraine want to be vacated

Students from UP in Ukraine want to be vacated
Around 20 medical students from Bareilly and Rampur district are stuck in Ukraine, following border tension with Russia. They want the government of India to evacuate them, according to family members. There are currently around 50 students from Bareilly studying in Ukraine.

Students from UP in Ukraine want to be vacated

Skyrocketing flight prices forcing Indian students to stay put in Ukraine

Skyrocketing flight prices forcing Indian students to stay put in Ukraine
The flight ticket prices have risen from Rs 50,000 to over Rs 70,000 and the students say it is this financial hurdle that is forcing them to stay put despite the advisory by the Indian government. On normal days, the flight tickets would cost Rs 21,000-Rs 26,000. But now, due to the Russia-Ukraine tensions, the rates have jacked up.

Skyrocketing flight prices forcing Indian students to stay put in Ukraine

Former Indian-American Amazon employee jailed for fraud

Former Indian-American Amazon employee jailed for fraud
Former Amazon employee Rohit Kadimisetty has been sentenced to 10 months in prison with a fine of $50,000 for a fraud and bribery scheme targeting the e-commerce giant's online Marketplace. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement that Kadimisetty, 28, of Northridge, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in September 2021.

Former Indian-American Amazon employee jailed for fraud

Protests, waning patience test U.S. restrictions

Protests, waning patience test U.S. restrictions
Massachusetts and New York are the latest Democrat-led states to ease mask mandates, despite evidence that the surge in the Omicron variant is not yet over.

Protests, waning patience test U.S. restrictions