A repeat convict will be executed for raping and murdering two minor girls as President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected his mercy petition. Mohan Anna Chavan raped and murdered the minor village girls back in 1999. Mohan had lured the girls with biscuits and sweets and took them to a secluded corner of the village where he raped them.
The Bombay high court awarded him the death sentence in 2002 for the rape and murder of two minor girls in Kolhapur district and the Supreme Court upheld it on May 17, 2008.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) had sent his mercy petition to the President on October 5 this year. The President on October 15 decided not to show him any clemency and forwarded its decision back to the MHA, which has conveyed the same to the Maharashtra home department, sources confirmed.
“Along with the mercy plea, the MHA had recommended that Mohan should not be pardoned as this would set a bad precedent,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.
Under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution, the President can grant pardon and suspend, remit or commute a death sentence. However, the President is bound by the recommendation of the council of ministers in deciding on mercy petitions.
President Mukherjee has rejected 22 mercy petitions so far, including that of Yakub Memon, convicted in July this year for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts. The President even commuted the death sentence of Man Bahadur Dewan from Assam, convicted for killing his wife, two sons and neighbour.
According to court records, convict Chavan reached his Gulamb village near the Kolhapur district on the morning of December 13, 1999. The same day, he went to buy groceries with his daughter Reshma. The two victims, who were only 10 and five years old then, met the father- daughter duo at the shop and one of them asked Mohan to buy them some sweets. By saying that he had no change, Mohan asked them to accompany him. He then took both the girls along with him and committed the crime. He subsequently threw the body of one girl into a dry well and hid the body of the other behind the bushes.
After returning home the next morning, the father of the victims and Chavan’s neighbour asked him about the girls. Upon being beaten by the neighbours, he confessed to the crimes and was handed over to the police.
This was not the first occasion when Mohan was convicted for rape of minor girls. In 1990, he was convicted for kidnapping a minor girl and raping her. He was sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and was out after completing the term in jail.
