Rohtak: A special court in Haryana's Rohtak town sentenced seven men to death for raping a mentally-challenged Nepali woman and then murdering her in February this year.
The trial was completed within ten months after hogging headlines due to the brutality of the crime. The capital punishment awarded by a lower court is subject to the confirmation of High Court.
The court of additional district and sessions judge Seema Singhal also imposed a penalty of Rs 1.75 lakh each on all the convicts -- Padam, Pawan, Sunil, Sarwar, Rajesh, Sunil and Manbir -- all of whom are in their 20s. All the convicts were residents of Gaddi Kheri village in the district.
Interestingly, apart from the seven convicts, one juvenile was also involved in the crime and is facing trial before Juvenile Justice Board.
The woman was brutally raped and murdered and her body dumped in a field along the Rohtak-Hisar highway near Bahu Akbarpur village of Rohtak in February this year.
The post-mortem examination report of the woman mentioned several injuries on her private parts, doctors of PGIMS had said, adding that stones and blades were also found in her body. T
The case had hogged media headlines earlier this year, and the opposition had targeted the Manohar Lal Khattar government over alleged deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
Given the brutality of the crime, the prosecution had appealed to the court that capital punishment be awarded to the convicts.
"The court awarded death sentence under Section 302," lawyer Pradeep Malik, who represented the victim's side in the case, said.
Besides, they were sentenced under Section 376 D (gang-rape) and awarded life imprisonment for remaining part of their life.
"They were also sentenced under Section 366 (kidnapping) in which they got ten years, under Section 201 which is destruction of evidence for which they were handed down a sentence of seven years. Besides, Rs 50,000 fine was imposed on all the seven," he said.
Malik also said the court has said that "all the sentences will run consecutively."
"It's a landmark judgment, in which the court has said that these sentences will run one after the other. Normally concurrent sentences merge into maximum sentence. Here the sentences will run one after the other," he pointed out.
Haryana DGP Yashpal Singhal had constituted a Special Investigation Team which arrested the eight out of nine accused identified in the case. Before Rohtak police could arrest the ninth accused, he committed suicide in New Delhi.
Those awarded capital punishment are Rajesh alias Ghuchru, Pawan, Parmod alias Padam, Sarwar alias Billu, Manbir alias Manni, Sunil alias Mada and Sunil alias Sheela of Gaddi Kheri village. Another accused, a juvenile, is still facing trial in the case before Juvenile Justice Board, Malik said.
All the convicts were residents of Gaddi Kheri village in the district. Another suspect, Sombir, of the same village had allegedly committed suicide. The woman from Nepal, who was staying with her sister and brother-in-law at Chinyot Colony in Rohtak, had gone missing from their house on February 1. Her body was found lying at Bahu Akbarpur village in the district on February 4.
The court has said there will be no remission, no concession, no parole, no furlough for the seven, Malik said.
The lawyer said that in all there were nine accused in the case and "one of them committed suicide on a day when others were arrested, which was February 9. One was declared juvenile and is he facing trial."
Quoting the judge's verbal observations made in the court before she pronounced the quantum of punishment, Malik said, "the judge said that besides being a judicial officer, she was also a human being and can hear the wale and cries of women subjected to extreme torture by the male counterparts...Need of the hour is to convey a message in the society that women are not a weaker sex."
"Women refuse to accept the names Nirbhaya and Damini given to them, reasoning that they should not be denied their identity. How many times Nirbhaya would die. Nobody has a right to take away our individuality," the Judge said. Also, the Judge said that the scars caused on the body of the victim cannot be washed off, but scars on the soul will also remain, Malik said.
"Today's judgment will be a step towards giving a message to the society that such crimes will be met with a very heavy hand and appropriate punishments will be awarded to the perpetrators of such heinous crimes," the judge said.
The SIT had prepared the chargesheet against the accused in May this year. The Haryana police had earlier constituted seven teams to investigate the case and had also announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh leading to the arrest of the accused. A total of 57 out of 61 persons had deposed to support the prosecution during their statements recorded between October 15 to October 25.
(With PTI Inputs)
