New Delhi, Jul 15 (IANS): A Delhi court has said that a region cannot be larger than the nation while awarding 10 years' imprisonment to five people who had killed a youth for using abusive words against a particular region.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau, in a recent order, awarded the sentence to Brijesh Kumar, Subhash Kumar, Putul Kumar, Vipin Kumar and Pramod Kumar and slapped fine of Rs.50,000 each.

The court was hearing a case of a fight between the convicts and deceased Jaswant, who was 24-years-old, and Pradeep Kumar due to a verbal altercation in 2008.

According to the prosecution, the convicts assaulted Jaswant and Pradeep after Jaswant used abusive words against them and their native state, Bihar.

Jaswant died of the injuries.

The court said that due to the violent behavior of the convict for false regional pride, a widow had lost her young son.

"There is no place for this kind of a madness arising out of false egos and prides in any civilized society," said the court in a order made available Saturday.

The court asked why had caste, region and race become more important in the country than life.

"After all, what is it that made these convicts explode? Is a mere reference to somebody's region or background provocative enough to make one burst?" the court said.

It said such madness was deplorable and unacceptable.

"Region cannot be larger than nation," it said.