On Friday, the Bombay High Court commuted a death sentence awarded to Ramchandra Karanjule, the former director of an orphanage in Navi Mumbai, for murdering an inmate and gangraping five mentally disabled girls at the premises.
A division bench of Justices RV More and Anuja Prabhudessai partly allowed the appeal filed by Karanjule, challenging the death penalty awarded to him after he was convicted by a sessions court on charges of murder and gangrape. He was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
The applicant accused (Karanjule) is acquitted under section 302 (murder). He stands convicted under sections 376 (2)(c) and 376 (2)(g) (gang-rape) and sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 50,000 each.Bombay High Court
A total of six convicts, including Karanjule, had approached the high court after the sessions court convicted them in March 2013 on various charges in a case of murder of an inmate and gangrape of five girls, including three minors, at an orphanage run by private trust ‘Kalyani Mahila Bal Seva Sanstha’ at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai.
The high court, meanwhile, acquitted Prakash Khadke, Karanjule’s acquaintance from all charges. The orphanage’s superintendent, Sonali Badade, was acquitted by the HC under the charge of attempt to murder, but convicted on a lesser charge of causing hurt and sentenced to one year in jail along with Rs 2,000 fine.
According to defence lawyers Niranjan Mundargi and Mahesh Vaswani, the lower court’s order was perverse, bad in law and without application of mind.
There are apparent errors on the face of the said order and the same has caused grave miscarriage of justice to the appellant and deserves to be quashed and set aside.Defence Lawyers’ Appeal
It further claimed that the lower court placed heavy reliance on the testimony of the complainant in the case which was not corroborated with any other evidence by the prosecution.
The lower court, while awarding the maximum punishment of death to Ramchandra, had observed that he was a menace to the society and life imprisonment would be highly inadequate.
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