Dindoshi sessions court here on Thursday awarded death penalty to a 45-year-old man for the brutal rape and murder of a 32-year-old woman in Mumbai’s Sakinaka area in September last year, observing that showing mercy in such cases will be a “travesty of justice”.
The court also noted that the “case, without any doubts, falls into the category of the rarest of rare”.
“(Going by) The facts, circumstances involved in the crime, the nature of injuries caused to the victim, the overall conduct of the accused, I am of considered view that the accused deserves optimum punishment… This case, without any doubts, falls into the category of the ‘rarest of rare’,” special judge H C Shend said while announcing the death penalty to the accused Mohan Kathwaru Chouhan.
“This incident is horrible, diabolic, inhuman, brutal… brought dreadful shivers up to the spine on thinking about it… Only a death sentence would send out the right message in society,” the judge added, referring to the gruesome nature of the injury caused to the victim.
The woman was raped by the accused inside a parked tempo on September 10, 2021, in Kherani Road in Sakinaka, an industrial area in the western suburb of Andheri.
Police said Chouhan, a native of Uttar Pradesh who engaged in odd jobs for earning a livelihood in Mumbai, was known to the victim. The duo had got into a fight following which he pulled her inside the tempo and raped her. He also inserted a rusted knife into her private part, they said.
The woman was later found by a watchman who immediately alerted police. She was rushed to civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar where she died during treatment a day later. Medical examination revealed the accused had injured the woman fatally and left no chance of her survival as her intestines were badly damaged and digestive system was destroyed.
The crime had sent shockwaves through the city and evoked memories of the 2012 Delhi gangrape case due to the brutality involved.
“To show leniency or mercy in the case of such heinous crime and to an accused who has shown no repentance or remorse after exhibiting an extremely depraved mentality would be a travesty of justice,” the court said.
The prosecution, which had examined 37 witnesses, had on Wednesday demanded capital punishment for Chouhan.
“This is a gruesome, diabolical attack on a hapless, lonely woman at odd hours of night, thereby raising fear for women’s safety in the metropolitan city like Mumbai,” special public prosecutor Mahesh Mule told the court.
Mule also pointed out that the attack was so forceful that the entire intestine of the victim had come out. The part of the body which was chosen for attack reflected the perverse sexual intent of the accused, he said.
During the trial, the prosecution had relied heavily on CCTV footage of the crime spot, which showed the accused assaulting the victim on the pavement before pulling her towards the vehicle. The visual also showed him quietly walking away from the spot after committing the crime.
Opposing the death penalty, Chouhan’s counsel advocate Kalpana Waskar claimed it was not a rarest of rare case.
“The victim was alive even after the sexual assault and she could have been alive, had she received proper medical treatment after the incident,” Waskar said.
The defence lawyer also prayed for leniency, pointing out that the convict has a family – wife, two daughters and a son, and an aged father – and that Chouhan was the sole bread earner for the family.
The court, however, said: “I am constrained to hold that the mitigating circumstances like the middle age of the accused, his socio-economic condition are insignificant in the light of the aggravating circumstances…”
The court also said that while nothing can compensate for the loss caused to the family of the victim because of her death, monetary help would provide them some solace. It directed the District Legal Aid Service and police to provide assistance to the victim’s family in getting compensation as per government rules.
Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil welcomed the court’s verdict and expressed satisfaction over the police probe into the case.
“The response time of the police after they received the complaint about the incident was just 10 minutes. The charge-sheet in the case was filed in Dindoshi court within 18 days (of the incident)… Speedy trial was facilitated after we demanded it to be fast tracked. I am satisfied with the efficiency shown by the police in the investigation,” he said.
The speedy trial and verdict of the court will help reaffirm Maharashtra police’s commitment in ensuring women safety, he said.
(With PTI inputs)
