Mumbai: The state women’s commission has decided to intervene after the Bombay high court, Monday, commuted the death penalty of a duo convicted in the 2007 rape-cum-murder of a Pune BPO employee working with Wipro to 35 years in prison (life sentence).
The high court and Supreme Court had awarded the death penalty to the accused.
The state women’s commission has decided to intervene in the Gahunje gang rape case where both the high court and the apex court awarded the death penalty to accused Purushottam Borate and Pradeep Kokade.
On Monday, the high court commuted the punishment from death penalty to life imprisonment.
Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson of the state women’s commission, said, “The state women’s commission disagrees with the decision and has decided to fight a legal battle for the victim.”
“Delay in the execution of the death penalty caused the change in punishment, which is like denying justice to
the victim. That is the reason we have decided to fight a legal battle for her,” she said.
The commission had suggested to the state government to find out who delayed execution of the death penalty and why. It also stated that the state government should challenge the high court’s decision on this matter.
Borate and Kokade were sentenced to death for raping and murdering a 22-year-old employee of the BPO.
The incident took place in 2007, and the high court confirmed the death sentence in 2012. The Supreme Court upheld the decision in 2015.
In 2016, the governor of Maharashtra and in 2017, the President of India rejected the duo’s mercy petition.
On November 1, 2007, a Wipro BPO employee, who was then 22-year-old, got into the regular cab contracted by the company to report for her night duty in a Pune suburb. Cab driver Borate, accompanied by his friend Kokade, changed the route and took her to a remote place, where they raped and strangled her with her dupatta.
