Alwar man sentenced to death for rape, murder of 5-year-old (Rajasthan)

Updated: Jun 12, 2019 19:08 IST

A court in Rajasthan’s Alwar sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for raping a 5-year-old and killing the girl by crushing her head with stone. Public prosecutor Vinod Sharma said special judge of POSCO court Ajay Sharma called it a “rarest of the rare” crime and sentenced the accused to 10 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping, 7 years for destruction of evidence and death sentence for rape and murder. 

The public prosecutor said, on February 1, 2015, Rajkumar alias Dharmendra Yadav lured the girl by promising her sweets. He took her to a deserted place where he raped and killed her. According to the police chargesheet, the man mutilated the five-year-old’s private parts and hid her body under a hay stack. The judge heard testimonies of 10 witnesses. The witnesses told court that the man was once fined Rs 31,000 for sexually harassing girls in the village.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/alwar-man-sentenced-to-death-for-rape-murder-of-5-year-old/story-AxC53GeiBueAXqL6ARRuqN.html

HC upholds death penalty clause for repeat rape offenders (Maharashtra)

Updated: Jun 04, 2019 01:29 IST

The Bombay High Court amended section of the Indian Penal Code under which repeat offenders in rape cases can be awarded life imprisonment or death penalty.

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Monday upheld constitutional validity of Section 376E of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which states that a repeat rape offender can be awarded life imprisonment or death penalty. Vijay Jadhav, 27, Mohammed Kasim Shaikh Mohammed Hashim Shaikh, 24, and Mohammed Salim Mohammed Kudus Ansari, 32, who were convicted for the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman at Shakti Mills on August 22, 2013, had challenged constitutional validity of the legal provisions under which they were awarded life sentence in 2014. During probe, the police found the trio had also gang raped an 18-year-old woman on July 31 at the same place.

The amendment brought in place in 2013, after the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi in 2012. “Section 376-E is not ultra vires the Constitution,” a bench of justice BP Dharmadhikari and justice Revati Mohite-Dere said while dismissing petitions filed by the three convicts. The bench rejected an argument advanced on behalf of the trio that “Section 376E was arbitrary, disproportionately harsh and therefore violated the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India”. Their argument further said “the section prescribes death penalty, even when no death (murder) is caused by the accused person. The bench said it would be “highly unrealistic” to compare rape with the offence of murder, as the “consequences are incomparable”. “A victim of rape undergoes a traumatic experience with which she has to live for rest of her life. Rape is a highly reprehensible crime and demonstrates a total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the victim. Needless to state, the stigma that is attached to rape victims is lifelong,” the bench said, adding, “In a sense, the offence of rape can be said to be graver than that of murder.”

The bench said the legislature, while enacting Section 376E, was aware of people’s needs and necessary measures to meet those needs (the growing incidents of rape). It added there was no doubt that “courts have the jurisdiction to interfere when the punishment prescribed is outrageously disproportionate to the offence, but legislature is in the best position to understand the needs of the society”. Besides, the judges said “there were other penal sections that prescribed death penalty for offences involving no murders”. The bench also rejected the argument that Section 376E created a new punishment – imprisonment till death of the offender – that is unknown to the penal law in India. In this regard, the judges referred to Supreme Court rulings holding that life imprisonment means imprisonment for rest of the natural life of the offender and therefore, it was not a new punishment.

In 2013, the three convicts were tried in the two cases simultaneously, and on March 20, 2014, the accused were convicted in both cases. The next day, the trial court sentenced the trio in one of the cases. When proceedings for sentencing in the other case were taken up, the prosecutor presented an application for amendment of the charge added under Section 376E. On March 24, the trial court allowed the application and invoking Section 376E handed death sentence to the trio.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bombay-high-court-upholds-death-penalty-clause-for-repeat-offenders-in-rape-cases/story-ju1oScEdZuxAAqNP3EAugK.html 

Man Given Death Sentence For Killing Differently-Abled Younger Brother (Rajasthan)

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: May 28, 2019 12:34 IST (Jaipur)

Ram Prasad Sahu, who had earlier served jail term in another case, was held guilty under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for brutally killing his younger brother, Moti, in front of a huge mob on February 23, 2017.

A 42-year-old man has been awarded death sentence by a local court for killing his disabled younger brother.  The court of additional district and session judge, Jaipur metropolitan no. 14, awarded death penalty to Ram Prasad Sahu on Monday. Mr Sahu, who had earlier served jail term in another case, was held guilty under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for brutally killing his younger brother, Moti, in front of a huge mob on February 23, 2017.

"The judge observed that there is no chance of improvement in his conduct and he is a threat to the society," public prosecutor Alok Sharma said. The incident had occurred in Bhatta Basti area of the city. Mr Sharma said that the man had placed his foot over the body and smoked a bidi next to it. Mr Sahu has served 14-year imprisonment in another case earlier. Besides, six other cases are also pending against him.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/jaipur-man-given-death-sentence-for-killing-disabled-younger-brother-2044055 (accessed on 30 May 2019)

HC commutes death sentence in rape-murder case (Madhya Pradesh)

22 MAY 2019 Last Updated at 8:42 PM | SOURCE: PTI

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted for the rape and murder of his daughter to life imprisonment.

A division bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Anjuli Palo passed the order on Tuesday. A trial court in Bhopal had on December 22, 2018 sentenced the accused Afzal Khan to death for raping and murdering his 6-year-old daughter. When the case came up for confirmation of death sentence, the high court held that it did not fall in the "rarest of rare" category so as to warrant the capital punishment, government lawyer Som Mishra said.

The division bench, instead, sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum jail term of 30 years without remission, and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him, Mishra said. The incident had taken place on March 15, 2017. Khan raped his daughter and murdered her by hanging her from ceiling with a 'dupatta' before leaving for his shop. The probe revealed that he was suspicious of his wife's relationship with her former husband and wanted to take revenge, the government counsel said.

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/hc-commutes-death-sentence-in-rapemurder-case/1539743 (accessed on 30 May 2019)

Under New Law, Madhya Pradesh Has Sentenced 26 Rapists to Death

Rashme Sehgal

21/MAY/2019

Activists are concerned that the swiftness with which judgments are delivered might mean the accused – who usually come from poor socio-economic backgrounds – are not receiving a fair trial.

In February 2018, Madhya Pradesh passed a law to allow sentencing those convicted of raping minor girls to death. Since then, the special court set up under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has served 21 death sentences in 2018 and another five in 2019. Additionally, 168 eight rapists were served life imprisonment in 2018. One of these judgments was pronounced in a record of five days. Remarking on the swiftness of the judgment, director general of prosecution Rajendra Kumar says, “This is the swiftest capital punishment given to anybody in the history of jurisprudence. This case has found mention in the India Book of Records.”

Many of the accused come from extremely poor socio-economic backgrounds and could not even muster up a lawyer to defend themselves against the charges. One of the shortest trials was that of Motilal Ahirwar, who was accused of raping a seven-year-old girl on May 29, 2018. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on August 8. The trial of Rajkumar, an autorickshaw driver who was accused of raping a four-year-old girl on July 4 last year, was equally swift. The chargesheet was filed in a Special Court that deals under POCSO on July 20. The verdict was given on July 27. It turns out that since neither he nor his family could afford a lawyer, he was provided a lawyer from the MP States Legal Services Authority. The lawyer assigned to him was B.M. Rathore, who because of the speed with which the trial was conducted, revealed that he did not even have the time to speak to the accused.

DG Kumar brushes away criticism that the accused did not have lawyers. He clarified, “Lawyers have been made available to all the accused. It is not correct to say that they did not have lawyers.” “These are heinous crimes and deserve the strictest punishment,” said Kumar, citing the instance of a four-year-old girl who was abducted and raped by her father’s close friend in Satna district in July 2018. She had to be air lifted in an air ambulance and brought to the AIIMS, where a team of surgeons performed life-saving surgery on her genitalia. She was discharged from AIIMS six months later. “We did not want to delay the case and applied to a Delhi court to go ahead with the prosecution. A magistrate was appointed and the girl gave her statement over video. The rapist, who was a teacher in a primary school, was convicted over video since the girl recognised him as the abuser. He has been served a death sentence without the victim having to step into the court. This is also a first, where a victim was not required to come to court to give evidence. Even the PMO has taken note of this case,’ said Kumar.

Perpetrators usually know the victim

The National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) data shows that in more than 94% instances of rape, the offender is a person that the victim knows – a family member or a neighbour. “Emotional manipulation does come into play in such cases,” he said, citing the example of a maternal grandfather who manipulated his daughter and granddaughter (who was the victim). Both of them turned hostile during the trial. “The verdict did not go against the investigating team because the DNA report matched the semen of the accused,” said DG Kumar insisting, “scientific evidence goes a long way in providing clinching evidence in these cases.” The grandfather appealed before the sessions court, which reduced the capital punishment to life imprisonment. After the death penalty was introduced for the rape of a minor, offenders have killed their victim. The perpetrator may also pressure the victim and family to remain silent. DG Kumar has come across several such instances, the most heinous being a case where the child’s brother and chacha chose to kill a girl after raping her. They did want her to give evidence against them.

Appeals process

In a majority of the cases, the accused have sought an appeal against the capital punishment. In six cases, the Bhopal high court confirmed the death sentence, while in four, it was reduced to life imprisonment. In some cases, life imprisonment has been given up to death, while in other instances, a rapist is made to serve a 14-year sentence. Convicted rapists are also usually confined to a solitary cell. Activists who had fought for stringent punishment in rape cases are unhappy with the speed at which these judgments are being delivered. Dr Ranjana Kumari, who heads the Centre for Social Research, believes these verdicts are ‘a political mockery’, with the courts playing to the political gallery. “At this rate, we will soon hear of thousands of such verdicts from across the country. In the police registry, there are four-and-a-half lakh names of men accused of rape during the past decade. Given these stats, will the state take responsibility for killing so many (rapists) in the future?” she asks. Kumari cites the example of the two Mewati brothers who were accused of raping and killing a six-year old girl in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh in June 2018. The local bar association passed a resolution not to defend them. The lawyer provided by the state said that since the public sentiment against them was so strong, they could not produce a single witness. They were served a death sentence on August 21.

The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana passed similar laws recently, allowing those convicted for raping a child below the age of 12 to be served a death sentence. In July 2018, a special court in Alwar sentenced 19-year-old Pintu to death for raping a seven-month-old child in Rajasthan’s Laxmangarh area. In this state, the special judge conducted daily hearings and again, the verdict was delivered in record time. But the death sentence is considered the rarest of rare punishments. Between 2004-18, only four death sentences were served. From these, three were terrorists while the fourth man who hanged was Dhananjoy Chatterjee who had reportedly raped and murdered a 14-year old girl. In September last year, the Supreme Court stayed the death sentence Rajkumar, who was accused of raping a four-year-old. Lawyers expect the highest court to stay other cases too. Senior advocate Rebecca John has also expressed concern at the string of judgments issued by the lower courts in Madhya Pradesh. “Women safety should be a priority for any government, but this is hardly the way to show they mean business. These verdicts are nothing but an abdication of the principles of natural justice. Every individual has the right to a fair trial. Unfortunately, a lynch mob mentality seems to have taken over which has created an atmosphere of extreme prejudice,” she said.

Swetashree Majumdar, a young lawyer who worked on preparing the Justice Verma Committee report that made recommendations on rape, police reforms, providing quicker trials and stricter punishment for those who commit crimes against young girls, believes the government has not collated any evidence on whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent in cases of rape. “We have no statistics to show that the death sentence helps reduce rape. Even if we take the examples of our neighbours – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – who hand out the death penalty for rape, we find that it has not acted as a deterrent. The system desists from handing out these convictions,” said Majumdar.

When DIG Kumar was asked if the swift and severe punishments have acted as a deterrent, he mulls over the question for a while. He then says, “To a small extent, yes.”

Source: https://thewire.in/law/madhya-pradesh-death-sentence-pocso-law-convicted-rapists (accessed on 30 May 2019)

Death sentence to child rapist; 7-yr RI to kin for destroying evidence in Nashik (Maharashtra)

Nashik, May 16, 2019 (UNI) 

A local court here has awarded death sentence to a 30-year-old man on charges of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl. The court also sentenced three members of the accused's family to seven years Rigorous Imprisonment(RI) each for destroying the evidence. 

In Wednesday's order, District & Sessions Court Judge Suchitra Godkhe held the primary accused Vilas Annasaheb Mahale guilty for raping the girl and strangling her to death in Male Dumala village of Dindori tehsil here. According to the prosecution, the accused lured the minor girl into his house in April, 2017 and killed her after rape. 

The prosecution said that the parents of the accused-Annasaheb Mahale (54) and Shaila Mahale (45)-and his brother Pravin Mahale (28) helped him in destroying the evidence. UNI RDS KAZ SB 1650/ 1655

Source: http://www.uniindia.com/~/death-sentence-to-child-rapist-7-yr-ri-to-kin-for-destroying-evidence-in-nashik/States/news/1599336.html (accessed on 30 May 2019)

Man gets death sentence for killing couple by pouring acid on them (Maharashtra)

09 MAY 2019 Last Updated at 11:36 PM | SOURCE: PTI

A 28-year-old man was Thursday awarded death sentence by the district court here for killing a married couple by pouring acid on them.

District and Sessions Judge R N Majgaonkar also ordered compensation in accordance to a Maharashtra government scheme for acid attack victims for the couple's orphaned children, aged five and eight years. The convict, Guddu Krish Yadav, was a worker at a chemical factory in Boisar MIDC near here in 2015 when the incident took place.

Guddu Krish Yadav

According to the prosecution, Yadav poured concentrated sulphuric acid on his colleague Rajkumar Balram Ravidas (35) and his wife Geeta (30) when they were fast asleep in the chemical company's quarters, leading to their death. The incident was an outcome of a fight over a mobile phone. In November 2015, Yadav had stolen the mobile phone of Ravidas, who complained to their boss. Enraged over being reprimanded by the boss, Yadav poured acid on Ravidas and his wife while they were sleeping, Additional Public Prosecutor Deepak Tare had told the court.

The judge relied on eyewitness account of Yadav's co-workers and said this is a "rarest of the rare case" where the accused "deserves nothing less then the death sentence". The prosecution has proved beyond all reasonable doubts the charge under IPC section 302 (murder) against the accused, he said. Around a dozen people were examined as prosecution witnesses in the case. 

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/man-gets-death-sentence-for-killing-couple-by-pouring-acid-on-them/1531608 (accessed on 30 May 2019)