New Delhi: Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna who delivered the death sentence order to all the four convicts in Damini gangrape-murder case has described the offence in the rarest of rare category.
Following are excerpts from his death sentence order:
"Besides discussing others offences, I straightaway come to section 302 (murder) of IPC. This falls under inhuman nature of the convicts and the gravity of offence they committed cannot be tolerated. Death sentence is given to all the four convicts.
"Court cannot turn a blind eye to such a gruesome act. When crime against women is rising onday-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut.
"This is a time when serious crime against a woman has come to the fore and now its judiciary's responsibility to instill confidence among the women.
"There should be exemplary punishment in view of the unparallelled brutality with which the victim was gangrapedand murdered, as the case falls under the rarest of rare category. All be given death," the Judge said while reading out a portion of the order.
"Besides murder, the four have been also convicted for offences including gangrape, unnatural offences, attempt to murder, dacoity, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, while acquitting them of the charge of murder in dacoity.
"The offence committed by Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28),Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) falls under the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment," the Judge said.
