The Hindu : National : Order in rape-murder case reversed

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Friday, Aug 20, 2004

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National

Order in rape-murder case reversed

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 19. The Supreme Court today reversed the order of acquittal of an accused charged with rape and murder of a schoolgirl and awarded life imprisonment to him.

The trial court had convicted the accused and sentenced him to death and on appeal the Bombay High Court acquitted him.

The present order by the apex court was on a special leave petition preferred by the Maharashtra Government challenging the acquittal.

A Bench of Justice B. N. Agrawal and Justice H. K. Sema though held that the High Court verdict was erroneous, and did not agree with the trial court judgment awarding death penalty to the accused.

According to the prosecution, Man Singh Rathore had brutally raped and murdered a fifth standard student, Ranjana on December 13, 1994.

The girl was lured by the convict to accompany him while she was going to school. Since she did not return home till late in the evening, her parents made enquiries and came to know that she did not attend school.

Her body was later found in a nearby drain. She had been strangulated with her uniform belt after being raped. The post mortem report confirmed that the girl had been murdered after having been raped.

Appearing for the State, counsel Mukesh Giri, submitted that the High Court had committed a serious error and it had resulted in miscarriage of justice. He said the murder was brutal, diabolic and deserved the extreme penalty of death and the High Court ought not to have interfered with the trial court's order.

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