On Tuesday the Supreme Court of India acquitted six death-row convicts charged in case of a murder of five persons and rape of a woman and her daughter during a robbery in June 2003 and held that the accused were wrongly implicated.
In the early stages, the six accused were sentenced with capital punishment by the trial court after which they approached the high court. The Bombay High Court in 2007 had upheld the capital punishment given to three out of the six accused and the other three were relieved by granting life term sentence.
In 2009, while hearing an appeal for the trio the apex court held the crime to be ruthless and sentenced all the six convicts to death. Further, the court in its judgment observed that “murder and rape is indeed reprehensive act and every perpetrator should be punished”.
Later, in an enquiry, the officials found that one of the convicts was less than 18 at the time of the crime, due to which he was then sent to the juvenile justice board.
The five convicts sought reconsideration of the verdict against them that was decided by a three-judge bench on Tuesday. In its judgment, the court directed the Maharashtra government to compensate the six accused with Rs. Five lakh each.
Further, the court has ordered the Maharashtra government to take disciplinary action against officials due to which the real culprits got away with the punishment. Adding further, the bench also ordered the chief secretary to conduct an inquiry and submit the report.
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"
