Mumbai rape-murder case: No leniency, says judge, awards death penalty

A court in Mumbai on Thursday awarded the death penalty to a 45-year-old man for the brutal rape and murder of a 34-year-old woman in the city’s Sakinaka area in September 2021, stating that showing mercy in such cases will be a "travesty of justice."

The crime, which took place inside a parked tempo in the wee hours, had sent shockwaves through the city and evoked memories of the 2012 Delhi gangrape case due to the brutality involved.

Additional sessions judge (Dindoshi) H C Shende had convicted accused Mohan Kathwaru Chauhan under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on May 30.

The prosecution had on Wednesday demanded capital punishment for Chouhan who had violated the victim with an iron rod during the assault.        

The court took note of the prosecution's argument that the accused had injured the woman fatally and left no chance of her survival as her intestines were so badly damaged that her digestive system was destroyed.

"(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 the considered view that the accused deserves optimum punishment for committing rape by inserting the article in the private part of the victim, causing her vital, deadly, fatal injuries and killing her," the court said.

"This case, without any doubts, falls into the category of the `rarest of rare',"  it added.

Only a death sentence would send out the right message in society, the court added.

The incident was inhuman and "brought dreadful shivers up the spine in thinking about it," the judge noted in the order.

"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.

Earlier, while seeking death penalty for the accused, prosecutor Mahesh Mule  had pointed out that this was "an offence against a woman and that too, a woman belonging to a scheduled caste that makes it more serious."

It created fear about women's safety in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, he had said.

The incident had taken place on September 10, 2021, in Sakinaka, an industrial area in the western suburb of Andheri.

The woman died during treatment at civic-run Rajawadi Hospital a day later.

The police arrested Chauhan within a few hours of the crime and filed a charge sheet in the case within 18 days.

Special prosecutor Raja Thackre along with advocate Mule appeared for the prosecution.  

The court, in its order on Thursday, also said that while nothing can compensate the loss caused to the family of the victim because of her death, monetary help would provide them some solace.

The court directed the District Legal Aid Service and police to provide assistance to the victim's family in getting compensation as per government rules.

Reacting to the court's order,  Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil lauded the efficiency shown by Mumbai police in probing the case.

"The response time of the police was 10 minutes," he told reporters, referring to the fact that a police  team reached the crime spot within 10 minutes of being alerted.

"The charge sheet was filed in 18 days at the Dindoshi sessions court. The police sought trial on fast track," he said.