TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ The Bombay High Court on Thursday commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to three convicts in the 2013 gangrape case of a 22-year-old photojournalist inside the defunct Shakti Mills compound in central Mumbai, saying that they “deserve imprisonment for life to repent the offence committed by them as death puts an end to the concept of repentance”.
A division bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan refused to confirm the death penalty awarded to Vijay Jadhav, Mohammad Qasim Shaikh and Mohammad Ansari, and commuted their sentence to life imprisonment for the remainder of their lives. It, however, said that the convicts shall not be entitled for release on furlough or parole as they cannot be allowed to assimilate in the society and as there is no scope for reformation.
At the time of the incident in 2013, Jadhav was 19 years old, Qasim Shaikh was 21 and Ansari was 28. The bench, while pronouncing its order said that it cannot ignore the fact that the offence has shocked the collective conscience of the society and rape is a violation of human rights, but the sentence of death is irrevocable.
“A rape victim suffers not just physically but mentally as well. It is a violation of human rights. But only public outcry cannot be taken into account. Judgment should not be guided by public outcry or public opinion,” the court said. It added that courts have a duty to consider cases dispassionately and cannot ignore the procedure laid down by the law. “Death puts an end to the concept of repentance. It cannot be said that the accused deserved only death penalty. They deserve imprisonment for life to repent the offence committed by them,” the bench said.
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