SC uphelds Bombay HC order commuting death penalty to life term of convicts accused of BPO staffer’s rape, murder

The Supreme Court held that “keeping a convict in suspense while considering his mercy petitions by the Governor or the President for an inordinately long time will certainly cause agony to him/her. It creates adverse physical conditions and psychological stress on the convict.”
While exercising its jurisdiction under Article 32 read with Article 21 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court stated that it “cannot excuse the agonising delay caused only on the basis of the gravity of the crime.”

The Supreme Court also issued certain directions such as forming a dedicated cell by the home department or the prison department of the state governments and Union Territories for dealing with mercy petitions. “The dedicated cell shall be responsible for the prompt processing of the mercy petitions within the time frame laid down by the respective governments,” the SC order stated.

The decision of the Supreme Court has anguised the family of the BPO staffer. “Justice has been denied to us. We have lost hope that daughters of this country will ever get justice. They will be savagely and brutally violated and murdered while the perpetrators continue to enjoy their life. We will continue to debate the procedural issues and hope for reformation of those criminals till it happens all over again with someone else. We find no justice, no solace, and no closure,”the brother-in-law of the 22-year-old told The Indian Express.

The brother-in-law said after the Bombay High Court had commuted the death sentence of the convicts to life imprisonment, his wife had written to the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra to look into the matter and ensure the accused are given capital punishment.

“The Maharashtra State Women’s Commission had also written to the Chief Justice of India seeking death penalty for the two accused. It is painful that the Supreme Court has upheld the HC order that went in favour of the convicts who committed such a heinous crime,” he said.

A native of Uttar Pradesh, the deceased woman had graduated from a college in Pune and joined a BPO as an associate in December 2006. She was residing with her sister and brother-in-law in Pune. On the night of November 1 in 2007, which also marked the woman’s last day of her notice period with the company, she was picked up by the office cab for her night shift. However, she did not return home.

On inquiring, her family members learnt she had not worked that night. On the morning of November 2, her brother-in-law lodged a missing complaint with the Chatushrungi police.

Police found her body the same morning at Gahunje, about 35km from Pune. There were cut marks on a vein on her right hand and wounds from strangulation on her body. Medical reports confirmed she was raped before her murder.

The woman’s sister reported that the victim’s Bangalore-based friend was unable to talk to her after a call made during the cab ride was abruptly disconnected the previous night. Police then arrested the cab driver, Purushottam Borate (31), and his friend Pradeep Yashwant Kokate (25).

As per the police investigation, instead of taking the woman to her workplace, the duo drove her along another route on the pretext of picking up someone from the Nigdi area. They allegedly stopped at an isolated place, forcibly switched off her phone, took turns to rape her and strangled her. Investigation also revealed that they went for other pick-up afterwards.

Though trial in the case began before a Pune court, it suffered a setback after the arrest of an alleged fake lawyer, Mahendra Kawachale, who represented the accused. By the time he was replaced by another lawyer, Atul Patil, Kawachale had already cross-examined some of the prosecution witnesses.

Seeking capital punishment for the accused, the prosecution submitted in court that the woman was strangled with a dupatta, her bones were fractured, her head was smashed with a stone causing a skull fracture and her wrist was slashed with a blade.

In March 2012, the Pune district and sessions court sentenced the two accused to death for the rape and murder of the BPO staffer. The court held that the collective conscience of the community was so shocked by the crime that life imprisonment would not meet the ends of justice.
The sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court in September 2012 and the Supreme Court in May 2015. Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao rejected their mercy petitions in April 2016. About a year later, then President Pranab Mukherjee too rejected their mercy pleas.

Two years later, in April 2019, the Pune principal district and sessions judge issued death warrants for the accused. As per the warrants, they were to be hanged by the neck until their death at Yerwada Central Prison in Pune at 5am on June 24, 2019.

However, the duo moved the high court against the death warrants. They sought commutation of the death sentences to life imprisonment claiming an “inordinate” and “unexplained” delay of about four years (1,509 days) in executing the death penalty after the Supreme Court verdict, causing violation of their fundamental rights to life.

The central and state governments argued there was no delay in taking a decision on the duo’s death penalty. But in July 2019, the high court ruled in favour of the accused and commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment for 35 years each. On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the Maharashtra government’s appeal challenging the HC judgement and commuted their death penalty to life imprisonment.