Sakinaka rape-murder case: Accused gets death sentence

A court here on Thursday awarded death penalty to a 45-year-old man for the brutal rape and murder of a 34-year-old woman in Mumbai’s Sakinaka area in September 2021.

The crime, which took place inside a parked tempo in the wee hours, had sent shockwaves through the city and evoked the memories of the 2012 Delhi gangrape case due to the brutality involved.

Additional sessions judge (Dindoshi) H C Shende had convicted accused Mohan Kathwaru Chauhan under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on May 30. The prosecution had on Wednesday demanded capital punishment for Chouhan who had violated the victim with an iron rod during the assault. “The present case falls under the category of rarest of the rare cases,” the judge said while pronouncing the sentence.

The court took note of the prosecution’s argument that the accused had injured the woman fatally and left no chance of her survival as her intestines were so badly damaged that her digestive system was destroyed.

”This is an offence against a woman and that too, a woman belonging to a scheduled caste that makes it more serious,” advocate Mahesh Mule, appearing for the prosecution, had argued during the hearing on the quantum of punishment.

”This is a gruesome, diabolical attack on a hapless, lonely woman at odd hours of the night, thereby raising fear for women’s safety in a metropolitan city like Mumbai,” he had said.

The incident had taken place on September 10, 2021. The woman died during treatment at civic-run Rajawadi Hospital a day later. The police arrested Chauhan within a few hours of the crime and filed a charge sheet in the case within 18 days.

Special prosecutor Raja Thackre along with advocate Mule appeared for the prosecution.