Orphanage founder gets death sentence for rape and murder

MUMBAI March 22, 2013: A sessions court on Thursday awarded death sentence to the founder of Panvel's Kalyani Mahila and Bal Seva Sanstha for killing a minor. Ramchandra Karanjule (53) also received two life sentences and other sentences for raping and physically abusing disabled inmates at the state-licenced private shelter. Five other convicts received various sentences for their role in the rape and torture of disabled inmates, many of them minors. "Accused number one (Karanjule) is sentenced to death and he shall be hanged till he is dead subject to confirmation by the honourable Bombay high court," the judge said. Among the other convicts, Deepak Kasbe (35) was sentenced to life in jail for gang rape; Prakash Khadke (36), a salaried employee of the shelter, to life imprisonment for rape; the then caretaker Parvati Mavle (61) and the then superintendent Sonali Badade (22) to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment each for abetting gang rape; journalist Nanabhau Karanjule to two years in jail for assault on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. "While holding a quasi-parental position, the accused (Karanjule) has in fact breached the trust and fiduciary relationship with inmates of the home to satisfy his insatiable lust," the judge said. Referring to the minor for whose murder Karanjule was convicted, the judge said, "We have to imagine the condition of a severe mentally challenged mute orphan... who is severely anaemic with 3.3 haemoglobin, with many complications since two to three months and is deteriorating day by day and is given beating and is not taken to hospital till she reaches the death bed. Can we not say it is diabolic?" The judge said such a case fell in the rarest-of-rare category. "He has no right to live in society," the judge said. "He is a menace to society." Karanjule and Kasbe had made five victims sleep in a row so they could commit gang rape, the judge said. "This shocks the judicial conscience," the judge said. "The girls were not normal. They were physically and mentally challenged. They were kept under duress and coercion." Referring to Mavle and Badade, the judge said: "Two untrained unqualified staff were kept to look after the girls. One of them was an illiterate old lady. The other was a young girl, who herself has illicit relations with the accused (Karanjule)." About the shelter, the judge said: "The only objective of the orphanage was to satisfy lust and to earn money." After the verdict, Karanjule told the media: "I am confused and do not know what am I supposed to do. The court has ordered that I should be hanged till death, but the fact remains that I am innocent." Courtesy : http://m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/Orphanage-founder-gets-death-sentence-for-rape-and-murder/articleshow/19118651.cms