Gujarat HC confirms death penalty for sodomy, murder

TNN | Updated: Apr 4, 2019, 12:15 IST

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence given to a labourer, Shambhu Padhiyar, who sodomised and murdered a four-year-old boy at Piludra village of Bharuch district in April 2016.

A sessions court in Bharuch had condemned him to death last April, treating the crime as “rarest of the rare”. This capital punishment was approved by the bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice A C Rao after the state government sought confirmation of it. The high court rejected the convict’s appeal against his conviction. The court said that no mercy can be shown for such a heinous offence, particularly when there are demands for justice from all corners of society.

According to the case details, the four-year-old was playing near his house on April 13, 2016, when Padhiyar lured him by offering to buy him ice-cream. The boy’s aunt saw Padhiyar walk away with the boy and immediately asked him where he was taking him. Padhiyar told her that he was going to buy him ice-cream.

Padhiyar then took him into some bushes behind a dargah near the village pond, where he sodomised him. Padhiyar then strangled the boy to death and fled. When the boy’s body was found, a complaint of murder, kidnapping, and violation of Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered at Vedach police station in Jambusar taluka. After the postmortem confirmed that the boy was sexually assaulted, Padhiyar was also booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with unnatural sex.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/hc-confirms-death-penalty-for-sodomy-murder/articleshow/68712362.cms (accessed on 29 May 2019) 

Lower court’s death penalty verdict binned (Tamil Nadu)

Mohamed Imranullah S.

CHENNAI , JULY 25, 2018 01:20 IST

Says no evidence to prove Manikandan murdered a four-year-old girl in Tiruvannamalai

The Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction as well as death sentence imposed by a trial court on 24-year-old P. Manikandan for having allegedly murdered a four-year-old girl child in Tiruvannamalai on June 13, 2013 due to a personal enmity with her father over repaying the loans that he had taken from him. Allowing a criminal appeal filed by the convict, a Division Bench of Justices S. Vimala and S. Ramathilagam agreed with Senior Counsel N.R. Elango that a Mahila Court in Tiruvannamalai had casually convicted and awarded capital punishment to the appellant though there was hardly any evidence to connect him with the offence.

The Bench ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the murder of the child to find out the real perpetrators of the crime within three months. If the present appellant was found to be guilty even in the second round of investigation, it would be open to the prosecution to proceed against him in accordance with law. Penning the judgment for the Bench, Ms. Justice Vimala said there was a strong dividing line between ‘may be true’ and ‘must be true’ since the former was represented by conjectures and the latter by concrete conclusions. It was not proper on the part of the trial court to have awarded death penalty by ignoring such a dividing line.

‘Circumstantial evidence’

The judge pointed out that the entire case of the prosecution rested on circumstantial evidence which did not support the hypothesis “that it is only this accused and this accused alone” who committed the murder. If the trial court was agonised over the death of the child, it should have ordered further investigation instead of awarding death. “When more power is exercised, more caution is essential. Judging can be done only on the basis of legal evidence... This is a case where there is no evidence at all. Still, death penalty has been handed down in a very casual manner probably out of over enthusiasm and zeal to stray into irrelevant considerations other than those sanctioned by the highest court of the land. “Capital punishment would evoke an awe and send shock waves only when it is based on truth and evidence. It would lose its sanctity and severity when it is perverse and peddled frequently by every other trial court for fear of indictment from outside sources,” Ms. Justice Vimala observed.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/hc-sets-aside-death-sentence-acquits-convict-of-all-charges/article24507102.ece (Accessed 25 December 2018)

Man gets death sentence for killing minor step-children (Uttar Pradesh)

Published: May 10, 2018 8:35 PM IST

Rupnagar (Pb), May 10 (PTI) A 27-year-old man was sentenced to death by a court here today for killing his two minor step-children in September 2017 as his wife was not willing to have a child with him.

District and Session Judge B S Sandhu convicted Ashok Kumar alias Pintu, a resident of Baweta village in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, for the murder of Manav (10) and Shivam (6) and awarded him capital punishment, saying the crime fell in the category of “rarest of rare” case. Kumar had married a local resident Rajni who had two sons from her previous marriage. He wanted have a child with Rajni but she refused. Annoyed over it, he kidnapped her sons and drowned the children in a river on September 25, 2017, according to the prosecution.

The court also sentenced Kumar to ten years rigorous sentence and a fine of Rs 10,000 for kidnapping the children and five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 for disposing of their dead bodies, said complainant Rajni’s counsel Mohit Supra.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.

Source: https://www.india.com/news/agencies/man-gets-death-sentence-for-killing-minor-step-children-3046403/ (Accessed 24 December 2018)

Man accused of kidnapping, killing 7-year-old sentenced to death (Rajasthan)

Rohit PariharKotaFebruary 27, 2018

Kota: A man accused of kidnapping and murdering a seven-year-old child in 2014 has been sentenced to death by a Kota court.

The Special and Sessions Court gave Ankur Pandian capital punishment, and co-accused Anup Pandian a life sentence. Two other accused, Mahavir Sharma and Karanjit Singh, have been sentenced to four, and two years in prison, respectively. Rudraksha, the seven-year-old child of a bank employee and a school teacher, was abducted for a ransom of Rs 2 crore.

The accused said he committed the crime as he had lost money in cricket betting. DGP OP Gilhotra welcomed the verdict, and attributed it to the consistent work shown by the investigating officer, under the case officer scheme. The scheme ensures that a particular officer investigates a case from the beginning until the verdict, to ensure that the responsibility of conviction remains with him.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/man-accused-of-kidnapping-killing-7-year-old-sentenced-to-death-by-kota-court-1178194-2018-02-27 (Accessed 24 December 2018)

Man sentenced to death for raping, killing minor in Telangana

Dec 23, 2016 11:14 IST

Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

Hyderabad, Hindustan Times

Jakkula Venkataswamy lured the girl into his house with chocolates after a fight with her father, who works as a home guard. He then sexually assaulted her before throttling her to death and hiding her body under a basket.

A local court in Karimnagar district of Telangana sentenced a 30-year-old man to death for raping and killing a three-and-a-half-year-old girl. The incident took place on February 27, 2016, at Damerakunta village of Kataram block, which is now in Jayashankar Bhupalpalli district, and the trial was completed in a record time of 10 months. The sentence was pronounced by Karimnagar first additional sessions judge D Suresh on Thursday.

According to the prosecution, Jakkula Venkataswamy, an alleged habitual offender, lured the girl into his house with chocolates after a fight with her father Rajaswamy, who was working as a home guard in the Kataram police station. Later, he sexually assaulted her before throttling her to death. He hid her body under a basket and fled the village. The girl’s parents came to know from the children in the neighbourhood that Venkataswamy had taken their daughter with him. When they searched his house, they found the girl’s frock and later her body under the basket. There were several injuries and bite marks on the girl’s body.

The police registered a rape and murder case against Venkataswamy and launched a manhunt. They arrested him a week later. During their investigation, the police found that his DNA profile matched with that of the blood and semen samples collected from the girl’s frock. Eye witness accounts also established the crime. Following a quick investigation by the police and filing of charge sheet, the court conducted a speedy trial and examined 17 witnesses, besides the forensic report. The trial was completed early December and the judgement was delivered on Thursday. According to the police, Venkataswamy is married but his wife and parents had deserted him after the crime. He was shifted to Warangal Central Jail on Friday.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/man-sentenced-to-death-for-raping-killing-minor-in-telangana/story-M3iWyjMdyOAzi1kjfPzEPO.html (Accessed 23 December 2018)

Death row: High Court seeks records of mercy petitions (Punjab)

TNN | Oct 8, 2016, 07.26 AM IST 

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought official records to know why the mercy petitions of two murder convicts have been rejected since they were awarded the capital punishment by a Hoshiarpur court on December 21, 2006. Taking up a petition on Friday, Justice Rameshwar Malik of the HC ordered officials of the Punjab government to produce the entire record pertaining to the case, including the grounds on which the mercy petitions of Hoshiarpur residents Jasbir Singh alias Jassa and Vikram Singh alias Vicky were rejected. Jassa and Vicky are scheduled to be hanged on October 25 this year. HC has also issued notices to Punjab home secretary, DGP (prisons) and the superintendent of central jail, Patiala, seeking their replies on the contentions raised by the convicts. 

The next hearing of the case has been fixed for October 17. Both the accused and third accomplice, Sonia, had abducted and killed Abhi, a Hoshiarpur-based goldsmith's son, for ransom in February 2005. The three were sentenced to death by a Hoshiarpur court on December 21, 2006. The high court had confirmed the death sentences on May 30, 2008. On January 25, 2010, the SC had also upheld the death sentence awarded to Vikram and Jasvir, but commuted Sonia's punishment to life imprisonment. Seeking a stay on their execution, their counsel Gursharan Kaur Mann has argued that the two men, who are lodged in Patiala central jail at present, had been confined to solitary confinement inside the prison for more than 10 years and the Punjab government was working in a hasty manner to hang them any time. 

The counsel cited several judgements in which the Supreme Court had accepted delay as a ground for conversion of death sentence into life imprisonment. She also cited Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's case in which his death sentence was converted into life. According to the counsel, there has been a delay of around seven years in the execution of Jasbir and Vikram after the SC had upheld their conviction in this case. Their mercy petition filed before the governor of Punjab was dismissed on January 22 this year. On August 11, the President had also turned down their plea against execution. Following the rejection of their mercy petitions, the Hoshiarpur court had recently issued death warrants for their execution on October 25.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Death-row-High-Court-seeks-records-of-mercy-petitions/articleshow/54745048.cms (Accessed 20 December 2018)

Inmates on death row under strict vigil (Punjab)

Oct 4, 2016, 1:43 AM, Patiala, October 3
Manish Sirhindi

The incident

• Jasbir and Vikram Singh, along with the former’s wife Sonia, had been awarded death sentence by a Hoshiarpur court in September 2005 after they were found guilty of kidnapping and then murdering Abhi Verma (16) for ransom in February 2005. 
• They had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from Abhi’s goldsmith father Ravi Verma. Abhi was injected with chloroform and fortwin in heavy doses after tying his both hands and legs and sealing his mouth with a tape to prevent detection of offence.

The in-house gallows on the premises of the Patiala Central Jail, which are a remnant from colonial times and were last put to use in June 1989, are likely to see the hanging of Jasbir Singh and his brother-in-law, Vikram Singh, whose mercy petition was recently rejected by the President of India. The two were convicted for kidnapping and then murdering Abhi Verma (16), son of Hoshiarpur-based goldsmith Ravi Verma in 2005.

The last hanging in Punjab was executed on June 16, 1989, when two brothers from Dayalgarh village of Sangrur, Gurcharan Singh and Pritam Singh, were hanged in the Central Jail, Patiala. The hanging was performed by hangman Kaloo, who was specially summoned from the Tihar Jail in Delhi for the job.Meanwhile, according to sources in the jail, the two inmates have been put under strict vigil and their movement has been restricted to 32-chakkiyan cell, where they have spent their time while in prison. 

A file photo of the Patiala Central Jail where Jasbir Singh and Vikram Singh have been kept under tight security.

The sources said the two were now being allowed to move out of their cell only for an hour in the morning and evening. Besides, a jail guard has been put outside their cell to keep a round the clock watch. Jasbir and Vikram Singh, along with former’s wife Sonia, had been awarded death sentence by a Hoshiarpur court in September 2005 after they were found guilty of kidnapping and then murdering Abhi Verma (16) for ransom in February 2005. They had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from Abhi’s goldsmith father Ravi Verma. Abhi was injected with chloroform and fortwin in heavy doses after tying his both hands and legs and sealing his mouth with a tape to prevent detection of offence.

The trial court had on September 3, 2005, convicted the trio under Sections 302 (murder), 364-A (kidnapping for ransom), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced all of them to death. Later, the High Court had on May 30, 2008, confirmed the death sentence awarded to the three accused. The convicts filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which on January 25, 2010, upheld the death sentence in case of Vikram and Jasbir. However, Sonia’s death sentence was commuted to life sentence.

Following this, the duo moved another petition in the High Court challenging the legality of convicting them under Section 364-A of the IPC. However, the HC Bench rejected their petition, after which they were handed death warrants, which were to be executed on October 5, 2012. They moved Supreme Court and the death warrants were stayed till October 12, 2012. In between, they moved a mercy petition before the President of India and the execution was delayed. The President of India returned their plea asking them to approach the Punjab Governor. In 2013, the Punjab Governor dismissed their plea and they again moved a plea before the President of India, who dismissed their plea in August this year.

The matter was again taken up in the Hoshiarpur Sessions Court and on September 27, the court re-issued their death warrants, which are now to be executed on October 25 at 9 am on the premises of the Patiala Central Jail. Jail Superintendent Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said they had informed the DGP (Prison) about the preparations being made in this regard.

Abhi Verma

Time line

• The trial court had on September 3, 2005, convicted the trio under Sections 302 (murder), 364-A (kidnapping for ransom), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced all of them to death.
• Later, the High Court had on May 30, 2008, confirmed the death sentence awarded to the three accused. The convicts filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which on January 25, 2010, upheld the death sentence in case of Vikram and Jasbir. However, Sonia’s death sentence was commuted to life sentence.
• Following this, the duo moved another petition in the High Court challenging the legality of convicting them under Section 364-A of the IPC. However, the HC Bench rejected their petition, after which they were handed death warrants, which were to be executed on October 5, 2012.
• They moved the Supreme Court and the death warrants were stayed till October 12, 2012. In between, they moved a mercy petition before the President of India and the execution was delayed.
• The President of India returned their plea asking them to approach the Punjab Governor. In 2013, the Punjab Governor dismissed their plea and they again moved a plea before the President of India, who dismissed their plea in August this year.
• The matter was again taken up in the Hoshiarpur Sessions Court and on September 27, the court re-issued their death warrants, which are now to be executed on October 25 at 9 am on the premises of the Patiala Central Jail.

Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/community/inmates-on-death-row-under-strict-vigil/304611.html (Accessed 20 December 2018)

Man gets death for sodomy, murder (Maharashtra)

Vishwas Kothari

TNN | Sep 23, 2016, 06.33 AM IST

PUNE: A special court in Khed-Rajgurungar, about 45km from the city, handed out a death sentence to a man on Thursday for sodomising and murdering an eight-year-old boy at Chakan in rural Pune in 2013. The convict, Khalaksinh Janaksinh Panchal, a native of Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, was living in Bapdeo Wasti, Kadachiwadi in Khed taluka at the time of the incident. He was working as a casual labourer at a construction site for a school building in Kadachewadi. Additional public prosecutor Girish Kobal told TOI, "Investigation revealed that Panchal was wanted in another offence of sexual assault on a minor girl at Narhe in 2011. A trial in this is going on before sessions court in Pune." The capital punishment pronounced on Thursday is the second such sentencing by a sessions court in Pune district. 

On August 31, a city sessions court had awarded death sentence to a man for killing his mother, wife and daughter over an extramarital affair. Special judge S R Jagtap of Khed-Rajgurunagar sentenced Panchal to be hanged till death for the offence of murder under Section 302 of IPC. The court further sentenced him to life imprisonment for each of the offences of unnatural crime under Section 377 of IPC and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was also sentenced to seven years imprisonment for the offence of aggravated sexual assault under Section 10 of POCSO Act. The court also imposed Rs 9,000 fine on the convict. Of this, Rs 5,000 is to be given as compensation to the victim's father. The death sentence is subject to confirmation by the Bombay high court. 

According to a complaint by the boy's father, their house is located on the road leading to the construction site. Panchal would often pass through this road and played with children, including the victim and his two brothers. He would often offer them chocolates. On the evening of May 15, 2013, Panchal told the victim's father that he was taking the boy to a nearby place to give him chocolates. However, the boy did not return home till late that night, prompting his parents and villagers to lodge a report with the Chakan police. Kobal said, "Considering the boy was last seen with Panchal, the parents and the villagers had named him as a suspect.Panchal was arrested from Pune railway station in the wee hours of May 16 while he was preparing to board a train to his native in Uttar Pradesh." "The same morning, the victim's body was found lying in a farm located close to the under-construction school site where Panchal was living on the first floor," he said. Investigation revealed that Panchal had taken the boy to the site and sexually assaulted him.

Later, he throttled the boy and threw his body from the first floor of the building to the nearby farm.Kobal said, "Medical examination of the victim and the accused proved critical in establishing the offence. Injury and abrasion marks were found on the private parts of the victim as well as the accused and the latter could not provide any explanation for the abrasion marks. Evidence provided by doctors who conducted these examinations further fortified the prosecution's case." A total of 10 witnesses were examined by the prosecution. Panchal himself had led the police to the scene of crime during investigation, Kobal said. At the point of sentence, the prosecutor described the case as the rarest of rare crime deserving the capital punishment considering the involvement of the accused in a similar sexual offence on a minor in the past and his conduct after commission of the sexual assault and murder.

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Man-gets-death-for-sodomy-murder/articleshowprint/54473848.cms (Accessed 20 December 2018)

Man gets death sentence for killing a minor (Uttar Pradesh)

PTI July 27, 2016

UPDATED: July 27, 2016 22:35 IST 

Shahjahanpur (UP), Jul 27 (PTI) A man was today awarded the capital punishment by a court here in connection with a 2013 murder case of a 10-year-old girl. Firoz, a resident of Nisar Jai area here, was convicted by Additional District Judge Gopal Upadhyaya for killing the minor in August 2013. Afreen was hacked to death following which her father had registered a case against Firoz, government counsel Sunil Singh said. A fine of Rs 20,000 has also been slapped on Firoz.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/man-gets-death-sentence-for-killing-a-minor-674321-2016-07-27 (Accessed 20 December 2018) 

Chhattisgarh: Man gets capital punishment for rape, murder of 3-year-old

By PTI |Raigarh |Published: June 18, 2016 10:35:36 am

A fast-track court on Friday sentenced a 23-year-old man to death for sexually assaulting and murdering a three-year-old girl.

Terming the offence as "rarest of the rare", the judge said the convict is a threat not only to the society but to humanity. Additional District and Sessions Judge Yogesh Pareek convicted Lochan Srivas, a resident of Bajrang Para locality, and awarded him capital punishment, Deputy Director (Prosecution) Kripal Singh Gavaskar said. Terming the offence as “rarest of the rare”, the judge said the convict is a threat not only to the society but to humanity. On February 24, Srivas took the girl, who was playing in the locality, to his house and raped her, the prosecution said. The accused then strangled her, kept the child’s body in a sack and threw it in Sangitarai area, Gavaskar said.

Following the victim’s mother’s complaint, the accused was arrested on the charges of rape and murder and chargesheet was filed in court on April 26, he said. After hearing the arguments, the judge in his 58-page order convicted Srivas under sections 377 (unnatural sex), 30 (murder), 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of IPC, besides section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Gavaskar said. The judge imposed a fine of Rs 8,500 on him, and if he fails to pay the amount, he would have to undergo additional imprisonment of one-and-a-half years, Gavaskar said. The court also directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased after the period allowed for appeal by the convict ends, he added.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/chhattisgarh-man-gets-capital-punishment-for-rape-murder-of-3-year-old-2860307/ (Accessed 20 December 2018)

Man given death sentence for killing minor (Bihar)

Munger | Saturday, May 7 2016 IST

A local court has sentenced to death and slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 to a man for kidnapping and killing a man ten-year-old boy in 2012.Additional district and sessions judge(V) Jyoti Swaroop Srivastava awarded death sentence to Manish Mandal alias Nepali Mandal after hearing the counsels for the state and the accused.

According to prosecution Mandal and two others had kidnapped the boy Aditya Raj from Nakki Nagar locality in 2012 and demanded a ransom of Rs 50,000 from his parents. When they failed to comply with their demand, the boy was strangulated to death.The accused had also sodomised the child and blinded him before strangulating him. Finding the case as "very serious",the judge awarded death sentence to the accused.Two others, involved in the crime, are still evading arrest. 

Source: https://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20160507/2854390.html (Accessed 20 December 2018) 

2 awarded death penalty for killing four-year-old (Gujrat)

TNN | Mar 18, 2016, 12.33 AM IST 

Palanpur: A court in Visnagar sentenced to two persons to death for murdering a four-year-old son of a local share broker in 2012. The convicts Akshay Patel (24) and Kuldeep Panchal (26) broke down in the court after additional sessions judge KM Dave pronounced the death sentence. The duo had abducted Golu, son of a share broker in Kansa village, on March 17, 2012 for ransom. They had demanded Rs 50 lakh for his release. But the boy's father informed police, who began a search for the kid. 

However, Golu's body was found the next day from a river bank near Visnagar. Post-mortem report revealed that Golu was strangulated to death. Akshay and Kuldeep were arrested after few days. Judge Dave termed the abduction and killing of the four-year-old by as rarest of the rare case and ordered that they be hanged till death. Public prosecutor Sanjay Patel said that the both pleaded for mercy from the judge saying that they were young and they should not be given death penalty. However, the judge refused to entertain their plea.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/2-awarded-death-penalty-for-killing-four-year-old/articleshow/51448703.cms (Accessed 20 December 2018)