Terming the rape and murder case of Hyderabad-based techie Esther Anuhya as ‘rarest of the rare’, a special women’s court in the city on Friday awarded death sentence to convict Chandrabhan Sanap. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.
Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, judge Vrushali Joshi said the accused shall be hanged by the neck till he is dead.
The court awarded death sentence to Sanap on charge of murder and he has been sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 376A (committing rape and inflicting injury causing death). He has also been convicted and sentenced for kidnapping, causing disappearance of evidence and robbery. However, all these sentences will run
concurrently. She has also observed that social abhorrence and national shock created by this incident was parallel to the one evoked by the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi. To show leniency or mercy in the case of such a heinous crime and upon an accused who has shown no repentance or remorse after exhibiting extreme depraved mentality, would be a travesty of justice, the judge said.
“Because of this case, security of women is again found (to be) in danger. The girl, who was an engineer working in TCS, staying independently, alighted at LTT railway station, went missing and her body was found in such a horrifying condition,” the judge noted in the judgment.
Justifying the decision to award death sentence to Sanap, Ms Joshi observed, “It (the incident) created a dent in the belief that Mumbai is still a
safe city for women.The fact that at LTT railway station or at any place in Mumbai young girls are not secure or safe but (can be) subjected to the most savage form of rape and murder was shocking to one and all.”
The judgment also said this created a feeling of helplessness among parents, the women, and in every section of the society.The special court judge also said that Sanap didn’t commit the crime on the spur of the moment, but had pre-planned it.
He took the girl to a deserted, forested area and the police could not reach there till they traced the mobile tower location, the judge said.
According to the judge, after the Delhi gangrape case and in response to call for stricter law, the legislature changed the entire law relating to sexual offences in view of the ever-rising incidence of sexual offences against
women. After the amendments came into force, the offence under Section 376 (A) (while committing rape, inflicting an injury that causes a woman’s death) was applied and the death punishment was prescribed for it, the court noted. Sanap has been convicted under Section 376(A) as well as 302 (murder).
“Unfortunately, the victim is not here to explain her pain... He has committed the offence in order to satisfy his lust. He forcibly raped a defenceless lady and eliminated her life which is the ultimate insult to womanhood,” the court held.
