Abolish Death Penalty India: Thane

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Thane: Court awards death penalty to man who raped, murdered 5-year-old girl

Press Trust of India | Updated Jun 07, 2013 at 05:36pm IST

Thane: In a speedy trial, a 53-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to death by a court here for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl in January 2013. Thane Additional Sessions Judge PH Mali while pronouncing the verdict observed that the case fell under the "rarest of rare" category as the girl had been done to death in the most cruel manner and a young life was snuffed out.
Prosecutor Sangeeta Phad had sought death penalty for accused Dattu Ambo Rokade, from Koprigaon in Vashi, stating that such an inhuman act deserved nothing less than capital punishment. Also, circumstantial evidence and statement of the wife and son of Rokade, that he was capable of committing such a heinous act, nailed him.
The crime took place on January 22 this year when the minor girl was playing in the ground near her house while her elder brother and sister were watching TV. Her parents had gone to work, investigating officer in the case API Pushpa Chavan-Dighe told the court.
Rokade lured the girl to his house and then sexually assaulted her, Dighe said. When the parents of the victim were unable to trace her, they lodged a police complaint. The following day, during the early hours, they found their dead daughter dumped at their house entrance in a disrobed state.
The accused, after raping the girl, had strangulated her to death and packed her in a gunny bag. He hid the body in a garbage bin before leaving her in front of her house, the court was told.
The accused was charged under sections 302, 376, 377, 201 and 367 of IPC and also under section 4 and 5 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. A total of 27 witnesses were examined in the case. During the trial, the court was told by locals that they had seen a old man carry a gunny bag into the building compound that day.
The accused was staying near the house of the victim and took care of his widowed daughter's kids. He was reportedly driven out of Murbad in Thane, where he attempted rape on a school teacher.
This is the second capital punishment awarded by a Thane court in less than a month. On May 16, an industrial worker Shekar Gupta, (22) who was found guilty of sexually assaulting and killing an eight-year-old, was given death by Additional Sessions Judge AA Sayeed.

Source : http://ibnlive.in.com/news/thane-court-awards-death-penalty-to-man-who-raped-murdered-5yearold-girl/397022-3-237.html

Monday, May 20, 2013

Man gets death penalty for raping, killing minor girl

A 22-year-old man was today sentenced to death by a local court for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl. May 16, 2013 Thane

Thane Additional Sessions Judge AA Sayeed held Shekhar Gupta guilty under sections 376 (2)(1) of IPC and awarded life imprisonment, and section 302 (murder) of the IPC for which he has been sentenced to death.
According to the prosecution, Gupta had abducted the school girl, raped her and murdered her to destroy evidence in December 2009.
The accused, who was married and has two children, worked as a contract labour with a company in Thane city.
The victim's father, a resident of Lokmanya Nagar, told the court that on December 24, 2009, when he returned home in the evening from work, he was told that his daughter, a Class II student at Saint Ulai School, had not returned till then.
When he went out in search of her, Gupta met him on the way and told him that he had met the girl and gave her chocolate and biscuits.
The parents lodged a missing complaint with police and the next day her body was found under a hillock.
Additional Public Prosecutor Hemlata Deshmukh said this was a rarest of the rare case which deserved nothing less than death sentence.
The court, relying on the witnesses from the vicinity and circumstantial evidence, held that the accused was guilty of the charges levelled against him and sentenced him to death.

Source : http://www.mid-day.com/news/2013/may/160513-man-gets-death-penalty-for-raping-killing-minor-girl-crime.htm

The Death Penalty Scenario in India

India is one of 193 countries that retains the death penalty. Some judges have delivered landmark verdicts upholding the rights of death row prisoners, while debates continue advocating abolition or reform of sentencing policies. The Indian government remains committed to retention, asserting executions occur only in “rarest of rare” cases. The death penalty applies to crimes including murder, kidnapping, terrorism, desertion, inducement to suicide of a minor or mentally-retarded person, and in certain cases of rape. Outrage over child rape and murder has intensified these discussions. After an unofficial eight-year moratorium, the government executed Ajmal Kasab (Mumbai attacks) in 2012 and Afzal Guru (Parliament attack) in 2013, both covertly and immediately after mercy petitions were rejected. Prior to this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed in 2004 after 13 years on death row. Following these, many mercy petitions have been rejected, creating fear among death row convicts. Courts continue to hand down death sentences at an increasing rate. Empirical studies highlight the plight of death row prisoners. The India Exclusion Report 2017-18 found fair trial rights largely denied, with convicts often marginalized by caste, religion, poverty, and education. The Death Penalty Research Project (2015) documented socio-economic profiles and experiences of death row prisoners. Dr. Reena Mary George’s studies (2014, 2009) emphasized poverty, social exclusion, and dignity as central to death row experiences, and examined the human rights impact of the penalty. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2015, 101 prisoners were on death row, with many sentences commuted to life. The “rarest of rare” doctrine introduced by the Supreme Court in the 1980s has not substantially limited death sentences, which have increased over the decades. Justice Joseph (2018) reaffirmed the Bachan Singh judgment but urged restriction of the death penalty to only those cases meeting its criteria. While updating the blog and conducting my own empirical studies, I observed the heinous nature of the crimes that were committed and thought about the families, about their loss, about the victims who for no fault of their own died. If I lost my relative or a dear friend, would I still oppose death penalty and would I still advocate to abolish the death sentence? Having worked in the criminal justice system and also having the seen the other side, where often it is the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed who are on death row makes me want to advocate for abolition of this punishment. Victims should definitely get justice for their loss, for their pain. No one should escape the rule of law. As long as humanity exists; crime will exist. Should we not re-consider our sentencing policies? Reena Mary George