13 November 2022 :

The Supreme Court of India on 7 November 2022 acquitted three men sentenced to death in the brutal gangrape-cum-murder of a 19-year-old woman in Delhi’s Chhawla in 2012.
Acquitting all the accused, a bench of CJI UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi blamed the trial court and police, and said the court acted as a “passive umpire” while the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the accused - Rahul, Ravi Kumar and Vinod alias Chhotu - by adducing cogent and clinching evidence.
Pointing out to many “glaring lapses” during the course of the trial, the SC said the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in the crime beyond reasonable doubt, leaving the court with no alternative but to acquit the accused, though involved in a very heinous crime.
"In the instant case, material witnesses examined by the prosecution having not been either cross-examined or adequately examined, and the trial court also having acted as a passive umpire, we find that the appellants-accused were deprived of their rights to have a fair trial, apart from the fact that the truth also could not be elicited by the trial court," the bench said.
The Supreme Court said the evidence with regard to the arrest of the accused was not proved by the prosecution clear evidence.
The trial court had held them guilty in February 2014 and sentenced them to death. This was upheld by the Delhi High Court in August 2014.

29 September 2022 :

"Court cannot make someone a victim of injustice to compensate for the injustice to the victim of a crime", the Supreme Court on 28 September 2022 said while acquitting a death row convict for the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old.
The top court, which pulled up the Uttar Pradesh police for faulty investigation, also said by not conducting the investigation properly, the prosecution has done injustice to the family of the victim.
It said that when the offence is heinous, the Court is required to put the material evidence under higher scrutiny but the erroneous approach on the part of the Sessions Court and the High Court has led to the "poor man" being ordained to be dispatched to the gallows.
A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer, AS Bopanna, and V Ramasubramanian said that it cannot shy away from the fact that it is a ghastly case of rape and murder of a six-year-old child.
"By not conducting the investigation properly, the prosecution has done injustice to the family of the victim. By fixing culpability upon the appellant without any shred of evidence which will stand the scrutiny, the prosecution has done injustice to the appellant. Court cannot make someone, a victim of injustice, to compensate for the injustice to the victim of a crime", the bench said.
The top court passed the verdict on an appeal filed by a man called Chotkau who was convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the IPC and sentenced to death by the Sessions Court, which was also confirmed by the Allahabad High Court on a reference.
The bench said that this is a case where the convict is "so poor" that he could not afford to engage a lawyer even in the Sessions Court and after his repeated requests to the trial court, the service of an advocate was provided as amicus.
"In cases of such nature, the responsibility of the Court becomes more onerous. When we analyse the evidence with such a sense of responsibility, we are not convinced that the guilt of the appellant stood established beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, the appeals are allowed and the conviction and penalty are set aside. The appellant shall be released forthwith if not wanted in connection with any other case", the bench said.
The complaint at Police Station Ikauna alleged that at about 4 pm on 8 March 2021, Chotkua took his niece aged about 6 years under the pretext of showing dance and song performances on the occasion of the Holi Festival.
It said that when the girl did not return home, a search was conducted and it was found that Chotkua was not found in his house, but the dead body of the girl was found in the sugarcane field located on the southern side of the village.

12 October 2022 :

The POCSO Court of Andhra Pradesh on 10 October 2022 awarded death sentence to J. Anil (30) who sexually assaulted a minor girl at Nunna village.
The accused resorted to the crime in February this year, and the Disha Mahila Police investigated the case.
Anil, a native of Nunna village, raped the girl on 24 February.
Disha Mahila Police Station Assistant Commissioner of Police V.V. Naidu investigated the case.
The judgement was given in seven months. The POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) Speed Trial Court also imposed ₹3,000 fine on the accused, said the police.

27 January 2022 :

A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on 26 January 2022 sentenced a 48-year-old man to death for the rape of a six-year-old girl in Bihar’s Araria. The POCSO court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victim from the Victim Compensation Fund.
Araria POSCO Court special judge Shashi Kant Rai handed over the death sentence to the convict for rape.
The man raped the six-year-old girl from his neighbourhood in an Araria village on 1 December 2021. A case was filed under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and POSCO Act against the accused.

20 February 2022 :

A court in India on 18 February 2022 sentenced 38 people to death and ordered life in prison for 11 others over a series of bomb blasts in 2008 that killed dozens in the western city of Ahmedabad.
The court had on 8 February convicted 49 people over the coordinated attacks that killed 56 and wounded 200, launching shrapnel through markets, buses and other public places in Gujarat state’s commercial hub.
Nearly 80 people were charged overall for the attacks but 28 were acquitted. The convicted were all found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy.
Judge A R Patel on 18 February ordered the punishment after the prosecution pressed for the death sentence describing the incident as a “rarest of rare case” in which innocent lives were lost.
A defence lawyer said they would appeal the verdict in a higher court.
“We had sought lenient sentences for the convicts as they have already spent more than 13 years in prison,” Khalid Shaikh told Reuters news agency. “But the court awarded death to the majority of them. We will definitely go for appeal.”
A group calling itself the “Indian Mujahideen” had claimed responsibility for the blasts on 26 July 2008. It said the act was revenge for 2002 religious riots in the state that left some 1,000 people – mostly Muslims – dead.
The marathon trial lasted nearly a decade, with more than 1,100 witnesses called to testify. It was dragged out by procedural delays, including a legal battle by four of the accused to retract confessions.
Police also foiled a 2013 attempt by more than a dozen of the defendants to tunnel their way out of jail using food plates as digging tools.
All 77 accused have been held in custody for years, except for one who was bailed after a schizophrenia diagnosis.
Ahmedabad was the centre of deadly 2002 religious riots that saw at least 1,000 people hacked, shot and burned to death.
The violence broke out after the death of 59 Hindus in a train fire – a case in which 31 Muslims were convicted for criminal conspiracy and murder.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was then head of the state government and has subsequently been dogged by accusations of turning a blind eye to the violence.

10 November 2022 :

The Supreme Court of India on 4 November 2022 commuted the death sentence awarded to a man for the rape and murder of a widow in 1998, noting he was in solitary confinement in jail for about 10 years.
The top court said the incarceration of the convict in solitary confinement showed ill effects on his well-being.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by B A Umesh who was involved in the rape and murder of a widow in Bengaluru in 1998.
"In the instant case, the death sentence was awarded to the appellant in 2006 by the trial court and the mercy petition was finally disposed of by the President on 12 May 2013, which means that the incarceration of the appellant in solitary confinement and segregation from 2006 to 2013 was without the sanction of law and completely opposed to the principles laid down by this court.
"In the instant case, the period of solitary confinement is for about 10 years and has two elements: one, from 2006 till the disposal of the mercy petition in 2013; and secondly from the date of such disposal till 2016," a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit said.
The top court said the ends of justice would be met if the death sentence awarded to the appellant is commuted.
"The incarceration in solitary confinement thus did show ill effects on the well-being of the appellant. In the backdrop of these features of the matter, in our view, the appellant is entitled to have the death sentence imposed upon him to be commuted to life.
"We impose upon him the sentence of life imprisonment with a rider that he shall undergo a minimum sentence of 30 years and if any application for remission is moved on his behalf, the same shall be considered on its own merits only after he has undergone the actual sentence of 30 years," the bench also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha said.

05 May 2022 :

The Supreme Court on 19 April 2022 commuted the death sentence of a man, who had sexually assaulted and killed a four-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh in April 2013, to 20-year imprisonment.
Citing Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde’s famous lines “the only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future”, a bench of Justices U U Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi also refused to sentence convict Mohd Firoz to imprisonment for the rest of his life and instead ordered 20-year imprisonment.
“…one of the basic principles of restorative justice as developed by this court over the years, also is to give an opportunity to the offender to repair the damage caused, and to become a socially useful individual, when he is released from the jail,” Justice Trivedi writing for the bench said in the court’s 19 April order.
The court observed “one of the most barbaric and ugly human faces has surfaced”. “A tiny bud like girl was smothered by the appellant before she could blossom in this world. Any sympathy shown to the appellant would lead to miscarriage of justice. This court has not treated such cases as the rarest of rare,” reads the order.
The trial court had awarded death sentence to Firoz and his co-accused Rakesh Choudhary was handed seven-year rigorous imprisonment. On appeal, the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court acquitted Choudhary but confirmed Firoz’s death sentence.

23 January 2022 :

Observing that state machinery showed “laxity and indifference” in deciding their mercy plea, the Bombay High Court, in Maharashtra state,n on 18 January 2022 commuted the death sentences awarded to sisters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit to life imprisonment. The duo was convicted for kidnapping 13 children, killing some of them and using the others as cover to snatch purses and chains between 1990 and 1996.
The death sentences to Shinde and Gavit of Kolhapur were confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2006. The state government supported granting the death sentences.
The High Court had concluded the hearing and closed the matter for verdict on 22 December.
The court also pulled up the state for the “unexplained, inordinate and long delay” and said that due to the casual approach of its officers, a mercy petition was not decided for nearly seven years and 10 months.
“State machinery showed laxity and indifference,” the court said. It added that the state represents the interest of society in the criminal justice system. “The respondent state has not only violated constitutional rights of the petitioners, but also failed the innocent victims of serious crimes,” the bench said.
The court added that while it acceded to prayer for commutation of death sentence, it cannot accept the request of releasing them forthwith as they have spent 25 years in prison and such a relief can be granted by the state in the form of remission. “Crimes committed by petitioners are heinous and beyond words to condemn,” the bench observed.
“The Supreme Court dismissed their appeal. They were a menace to society. We have no doubt that the competent authority will consider the gravity of offense and the observations are considered,” the bench noted and cancelled and set aside a warrant to execute the death sentence.
A division bench of Justices Nitin M Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal was hearing the duo’s review plea seeking to commute their death sentence to life imprisonment stating that there has been an “inordinate delay” of eight years in deciding mercy plea and execution of their death sentence.
The sisters were arrested in November 1996 while their mother Anjana, a co-accused, died of illness in 1998. The sisters were convicted by the sessions court in June 2001 and the High Court had upheld their conviction in September 2004.
In 2006, the apex court had confirmed their death sentence for five murders. In August 2014, the President of India rejected their mercy plea, after which, the sisters moved the High Court seeking judicial review of the President’s decision and sought reduction in sentence.
The plea filed by the sisters through advocate Aniket Vagal stated that the delay of nearly eight years in deciding on the mercy plea was “unfair, cruel, excessive and arbitrary,” and the same had caused “immense mental torture, emotional and physical agony to them” and their death sentence be reduced to life imprisonment.
While the bench had concluded hearing in the plea on 22 December, it had raised a query to Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai to clarify the government’s position as the state has a power of remission (reduction) of sentences and it could also decide on not granting such remission to any convict.

21 December 2022 :

A court in Haryana’s Sonipat on 19 December 2021 sentenced two men to death for raping and killing a woman five years ago.
Sonipat additional district and sessions judge RP Goyal convicted the duo, Sumit and Vikas Yadav, both residents of Sonipat, for abducting the woman when she along with her friend was going to a factory in Sonipat.
According to police, the accused abducted the woman on 9 May 2017 and took her to Rohtak in their car, where they killed her after raping her.

30 November 2022 :

Two persons were sentenced to death by a fast-track court in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district on 29 November 2022 for raping and killing an eight-year-old girl.
The incident happened in 2014 in Tirtol police station area.
The girl was returning home from a shop after buying chocolates when allegedly four people took her to a secluded spot and took turns in raping her. They killed her after that, according to the prosecution.
The POCSO court acquitted two other people for lack of evidence against them.
Sheikh Asif and Sheikh Alik were sentenced to death by the court after being convicted of gang rape and murder, among other charges.
The court gave the verdict after examining the statements of 27 witnesses.

28 November 2022 :

A Tripura court on 23 November 2022 sentenced a person to death after he was convicted of murdering five persons including his two minor daughters, his brother, another person and a police officer at Ramchandraghat in Khowai district of Agartala a year ago.
The judgement was pronounced by Khowai district and session judge Shankari Das.
“After long hearing and police investigation, it was found that the murder convict has no psychological disturbance. We have successfully completed the case within a year,” said assistant public prosecutor Bikash Deb.
The incident occurred last year on 26 November late night when murder-convict Pradip Debroy, (41), killed his two minor daughters, his brother Amalesh and injured his wife who, somehow managed to flee from the spot.
Later, he went out of the house and attacked a father-son duo of which the former died while the son received injuries.
A police official posted at Khowai police station, who had rushed to the spot, was also attacked by the accused. The official succumbed to his injuries later.
Getting information, a duty officer of Khowai police station, Satyajit Mallick rushed to the spot but he came under attack of Pradip’s sharp weapon. Later, he succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Agartala.
Debroy was arrested immediately on the incident night.

19 October 2022 :

A court in Rajasthan’s Pali district on 15 October 2022 awarded death sentence to a man for raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in January, the victim’s counsel said.
POCSO court Judge Surendra Kumar also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Narpat Singh.
The incident took place in January following which the 22-year-old was arrested, the girl’s counsel, Kamlesh Deora, said.
The court dealing with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases sentenced Singh to death on 15 October after finding him guilty, he said.
Singh had strangulated her and then beat her to death with a stick. Her body was found in a well, Deora said.
The charge sheet against him was filed before the court in February after which he was sent to jail, he said.

28 September 2022 :

A court in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir Champa district on 19 September 2022 sentenced two persons to death for the murder of a gram panchayat member in 2021. 
First additional district and sessions judge Suresh Joon found the accused Sohit Kewat (28) and Sunil Kewat (23) guilty of killing Bhagwat Sahu, a member of the gram panchayat in Tumsa village, public prosecutor Rajesh Pandey said.   Considering the serious nature of the crime, the court sentenced the duo to death and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on them, he said.      
According to the prosecution, Sohit and Sunil were in a dispute with the victim over proceeds of a land deal in Tumsa village under Sheorinarayan police station. 
On 20 November 2021, the duo attacked Sahu with a sharp-edged weapon and killed him.
They also circulated a video on social media stating that they had committed the murder, it was stated.

22 September 2022 :

A court in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara on 6 August 2022 sentenced to death two men for murdering a couple and their four children in the district seven years ago.
The additional district magistrate also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on both convicts, Sharafat and Rajesh, Special Public Prosecutor Sanju Bapna said.
Sharafat and Rajesh killed Yunus (38), a resident of Nimbahera, his wife Chandtara (35) and their children — Ashraf (10), Gudiya (7), Sajia (4) and Shakina (2) — with a sword in Mandal police station area on 18 July 2015. They dumped their bodies at different places and fled, Bapna said.
A case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the two at Mandal police station in the matter, he said.
The prosecution produced statements of 41 witnesses and 153 documents in the court to prove the charges against the two men, he said.

06 September 2022 :

Fifteen people were sentenced to death by Jamshedpur court on 18 August 2022 for killing an inmate of the Ghaghidih Central Jail during a clash between two groups in 2019.
Additional public prosecutor Rajeev Kumar said that the court of additional district judge-4 Rajendra Kumar Sinha sentenced the 15 people to death by hanging after convicting them under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy),
The court also sentenced seven others people to 10 years in prison after convicting them under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder), he said. Two of those sentenced to death are at large, police said.
The convicts who have been sentenced to death are Shyamu Jojo, Panchanan Patro, Pinku Poorti, Ajay Mallah, Arup Kumar Bose, Ram Rai Surin, Ramai Karua, Gangadhar Khandait, Rameshwar Angaria, Gopal Tiriya, Sharat Gop, Vasudev Mahato, Jani Ansara, Shiv Shankar Paswan and Sanjay Diggi.

03 August 2022 :

Describing the nature of the crime as "rarest of rare", a Ghaziabad court on 1st August 2022 handed the death sentence to a 30-year-old man for stabbing to death his former employer and six members of his family in 2013, reports Shafaque Alam.
"Rahul Verma is sentenced to death under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and fined Rs 50,000. He will be hanged till death, but the order will not be executed until the Allahabad high court gives its approval," the court of additional district and sessions judge Nirmal Chandra Semwal said.
While Rahul was given 10 years RI under IPC Section 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and fined Rs 30,000, he was awarded three years' jail and Rs 10,000 penalty under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property).
While sentencing him to death, a city court handed an additional three years’ imprisonment under Section 25/4 of the Arms Act and a Rs 10,000 fine to a 30-year-old man for stabbing to death his former employer and six members of his family in 2013. All the sentences will run concurrently, the order said.
On the night of May 21, 2013, businessman Satish Goel (60), his wife Manju, their son Sachin, daughter-in-law Rekha and their three children — Megha (14), Honey (12) and Aman (10) — were found murdered in their two-storey house in Nai Basti. Satish’s son-in-law Sachin Mittal had filed a complaint, accusing their driver, Rahul, of committing the murders. The family had two drivers, Rahul and Monu.
Rahul had joined work six months before he committed the murders.
Two weeks before the murders took place, Rs 4.5 lakh were stolen from the Goel household when the family had gone to a hospital for Satish’s kidney treatment. Since Monu was in the hospital with them, Rahul became the obvious suspect.
What aided the suspicion was that Rahul stopped coming to work after the theft.

02 August 2022 :

A 31-year-old man was sentenced to death by a special court in Gujarat on 26 July 2022 for kidnapping, raping and murdering a minor girl, a verdict coming less than four months after the offence was committed.
Special POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) court judge DP Gohil handed down capital punishment to the accused, Ramprasad Maheshsingh, a native of Anuppur district in adjoining Madhya Pradesh, for kidnapping and sexually assaulting the three years and nine months old girl before strangling her to death.
The offence was committed on April 14, and a charge-sheet filed by the police on April 27.
Charges were framed against the accused on April 30 and a day-to-day hearing was conducted, special public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala said.
The court also ordered payment of Rs 3 lakh to the family of the victim under a compensation scheme.
The verdict would have been delivered much earlier had the previous judge presiding over the case not been transferred, Sukhadwala said.

28 June 2022 :

A court in East Burdwan’s Katwa on 24 June 2022 handed the death penalty to a youth for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in 2018.
Jahangir Sheikh, 22, was found guilty by additional district and sessions judge of Katwa juvenile court, Sukumar Sutradhar.
Senior advocates said the judge considered the crime as “rarest of rare” and handed the capital punishment. In February 2018 Jahangir had taken away the five-year-old girl in East Burdwan’s Ketugram and her mutilated body was found in a pond.

26 May 2022 :

Three members of the same family were awarded the death penalty by an Additional District and Sessions Court in Haridwar (Uttarakhand) on 20 May 2022, for murdering their sister.
Pronouncing the judgment, the judge observed that the murder case falls in the rarest of the rare category, and therefore all the three accused deserve the maximum punishment possible, government counsel Bhupeshwar Thakral said.
Deceased Preeti Singh, a resident of Shahpur, Khanpur, had got married in 2014 against the wishes of her family to Brij Mohan, who lived in the neighbouring village of Dharmupur.
Since her family members were strictly against the marriage, they cut all ties with Preeti. She also refrained from visiting her father’s house since her marriage.
In May 2018, her brothers Kuldeep Singh and Arun Singh persuaded her that they will intermediate in pacifying their parents so that Preeti and her husband were fully accepted by the family.
Both her brothers called her to visit the house of their maternal uncle Santarpal at Abdipur village in Khanpur on May 18 that year.
As soon as Preeti arrived both Kuldeep and Arun along with their cousin Rahul attacked the woman. The accused attacked Preeti with an axe and she died on the spot.
Later Preeti’s husband Brijpal registered a case of murder against Kuldeep, Arun and Rahul at Khanpur police station.
Thakral said that Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Laksar Shankar Raj called the murder as falling in the rarest of rare category while awarding the death penalty to all the three accused.

25 May 2022 :

The main accused in the Nithari killings, Surinder Koli, on 19 May 2022 was awarded the death penalty by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad. The court announced the death sentence in connection with murder charges against the accused.
The judge also awarded seven years’ imprisonment to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the case, besides a fine of Rs 62,000 on Koli and Rs 4,000 on Pandher, officials said.
The sensational killings came to light after the Noida police found human remains in a drain behind the accused’s house sixteen years ago. Accused Koli and Pandher are currently incarcerated for rape and murder of multiple persons.
The CBI has filed a charge sheet in 16 cases since it took over the investigation, officers said. While Koli was held guilty of murder, rape, conspiracy and destroying proof of crime, Pandher was accused of immoral trafficking.
Koli was handed death sentences in more than 10 cases earlier. Pandher too was sentenced to death in three cases.
The two were arrested on December 29, 2006, after the police recovered skeletons and other belongings of missing girls from the drain outside their house D-5 in Nithari. Koli had allegedly killed several girls, chopping their bodies to pieces before throwing them in the backyard outside their house.

24 May 2022 :

A court in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district on 20 May 2022 sentenced two gangsters to death for murdering an NIA officer and his wife six years ago. The court had convicted Munir and Rayan for shooting dead NIA Deputy Superintendent of Police Tanzil Ahmed and his wife Farzana in 2016. 
Bijnor Superintendent of Police Dharamvir Singh said three other accused were acquitted.
The couple was returning home when the gangsters ambushed the car and shot them dead. Munir, Rayan, Jaini, Tanjim Ahmed and Rizwan were accused of killing them. All of them were his neighbours. 
The court acquitted Jaini, Tanjim Ahmed and Rizwan. 
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India.

12 May 2022 :

A court in Bihar’s Supaul on 11 May 2022 sentenced to death four persons convicted in a 2019 gang rape and murder case.
The four, identified as Mohamad Ayub, Mohamad Alisher, Mohamad Jamal, and Anmol Yadav, were convicted under Sections’s 376D (Gang rape) and 302 (Murder) and the POCSO Act.
Giving the facts of the case, Public Prosecutor Neelam Kumari said: “Nine members of a family were returning home to Teentolia village after watching Durga Puja celebration on 8 October 2019, when they were intercepted at Pratappur by a gang of robbers. They had tied all male members to trees and blind-folded them. A woman and a minor girl were taken and gang raped by four persons.
“During the incident, the woman tried to escape but failed as she was shot by the accused. Some of the accused raped her while she was in an injured position. The accused also damaged her internal organs as well.”
After committing the crime, the accused fled from the spot. The minor victim released the male members of the family, and the injured woman was taken to the hospital where she succumbed due to multiple injuries, she added.
“As per the postmortem report, her internal organs including small and large intestines, liver and other internal organs were badly damaged,” she said.
Following the incident, local police prepared the sketches of the accused on the basis of descriptions given by the minor victim and managed to arrest them.
During court appearance, the minor rape victim identified the accused.

12 May 2022 :

The Surat sessions court on 5 May 2022 awarded death sentence to Fenil Goyani (20) for the murder of 21-year-old college student Grishma Vekariya outside her house at Pasodara area of Surat in February.
Surat’s Principal Sessions and District Judge Vimal Kanaiyalal Vyas who termed the case as “rarest of the rare” said strict punishment was needed to deter people from committing such crimes against women.
The judge noted that like Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November 2008, Goyani exhibited cruelty and showed no remorse during the trial. The verdict also noted that the way Goyari slit Vekariya’s throat was akin to a butcher slaughtering animals.
The crime took place on February 12 when Goyani slit the throat of Grishma on February 12 in front of her family members and neighbours after stabbing her twice over turning down his proposal.
In videos that went viral, he was also seen stabbing her brother and uncle when they tried to rescue her. Goyani allegedly murdered Grishma for refusing to be in a relationship with him.
Saying that in his 28 years’ career he never faced such a case, judge Vyas said Grishma’s fate was akin to that of the victim of the 2012 Delhi gangrape.
Addressing media persons following the pronouncement of the verdict, Public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala said the court found Goyani guilty of IPC sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) for injuring two others apart from Grishma Vekariya and the remaining offences that Goyani was charged under.
“The court observed that the incident was pre-planned and created fear in the minds of the public in the way it was committed,” added Sukhadwala.
Vekariya’s parents as well as Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi welcomed the verdict.
The case was committed to the Surat sessions court where a speedy trial was conducted, resulting in conviction and sentencing less than three months after the crime.

03 May 2022 :

Five people were sentenced to death and one to life imprisonment on 25 April 2022 in the state of Uttar Pradesh, for murdering two persons over a land dispute in Aligarh, in 2015.
Additional district and sessions judge Rajesh Bhardwaj also imposed a fine of Rs 3000 each on Aehsan (32), Asif Thakur (38), and Rs 4000 each on Kafeel (28), Vakeel (28), and Bhura (30).
They were charged under section 302 (murder), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
However, the court awarded life sentence to Gyassuddin Khan (75) as he was the one who gave the “supari” (contract) for killing two persons— Naushe and Chand. Additional District Government Council Krishna Murari Johri said that on 24 July 2015, Naushe and Chand had gone to attend a family function in Mamood Nagar, where the five accused had shot them and then crushed their head with bricks as they were given a contract by Khan.

11 April 2022 :

Three persons were awarded death sentence on 8 April 2022 by a fast-track court in Assam for the rape and murder of two tribal girls last year.
The trio was convicted in the case on 6 April.
Special Judge C Chaturvedi of Korajhar fast-track court sentenced them to death.
The accused were arrested on 14 June last year, days after the girls, both sisters, were found hanging from a tree in Kokrajhar.
The incident had led to a huge outcry, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordering a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Chaturvedi, in his judgment, said that he had come to the conclusion that this case falls ''under the rarest of rare cases so far as offences under Section 120 (B) IPC (whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence is punishable with death), 302 IPC (whereby whoever commits murder shall be punished with death and shall also be liable to fine) and Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) are concerned''.
''In the rarest of rare cases, they be hanged by neck till their death,'' the court said.
The judge ruled that the accused would have to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh each.
The judge also directed that the proceedings of the court be submitted to Gauhati High Court as mandated by the law.

23 March 2022 :

A court in Ahmedabad on 15 March 2022 punished one Hardik Chavda (27) with death for killing his pregnant sister and brother-in-law in a case of honour killing in Sanand town in September 2018.
Additional sessions judge J A Thakkar considered Chavda’s act of murdering the couple and their child in mother’s womb as the rarest of rare case and awarded death sentence to him with observation, “This act cannot be taken lightly and if treated lightly, it will be an injustice for women in the society and the old mentality of our society will get an encouragement, the instances of domination over women and incidents of honour killings will be encouraged. Women will continue to suffer humiliation and this will cause damage to our social system.”
The incident happened in Sanand (Gujarat), where Taruna (21) and Vishal Parmar (22) had shifted after their marriage few months ago. Taruna’s family was dead against this union and her brother, Hardik Chavda, bore a grudge. A resident of Kointiya village of Detroj taluka in Ahmedabad district, Chavda had threatened the couple few days before he committed the murders. On 26 September 2018, Chavda attacked the couple at their house in Sanand. Taruna, who was pregnant then, received eight stab wounds. After killing his sister, Chavda chased his brother-in-law to a neighbour’s house and in front of the neighbour, Rambhaben Rathod, and her two children, he inflicted 17 knife blows on Parmar.
During the trial, assistant public prosecutor A M Gulabani examined 17 witnesses and placed 63 documents as evidence to establish Chavda’s guilt. The court punished Chavda with death for murder under section 302 of IPC and awarded 10-year-imprisonment under section 316 of IPC, “for causing quick death of unborn child”.
The court has recommended the District Legal Service Authority, Ahmedabad (Rural) to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Parmar’s parents, who according to the court lost three members of the family in their son, daughter-in-law and their unborn child.
The court has imposed a fine of Rs 61,000 on Chavda and ordered to pay Rs 50,000 compensation to witness, Rathod, who is also considered a victim of this crime since one murder took place in her house in front of her and her children.

09 March 2022 :

A court in Gujarat on 7 March 2022 sentenced a man to death for raping and murdering a woman and her 11-year-old daughter in 2018, a case that had triggered national outrage. His accomplice was given life imprisonment on the charge of murder.
Harsh Sahay Gurjar was sentenced to death and Hariom Gurjar was given life in jail by the special POCSO court of Additional Sessions Judge AH Dhamani.
The court also directed the Gujarat government to pay ₹ 7.50 lakh compensation jointly to the fathers of the woman and the girl, special public prosecutor PN Parmar said.
As per police, the woman and her daughter were sexually assaulted before being killed by Harsh, who had brought them from Rajasthan to work at a construction site where they stayed.
Harsh killed the woman as she was insisting that he take her and her daughter to his house. He dumped her body, took the girl home and raped her for 10 days before murdering her, the prosecution said.
The body of the girl was found near a playground in the Pandesara area with 78 injury marks on 6 April 2018, three days before the woman's corpse was found.
The two were identified as mother and daughter with the help of DNA tests.
Harsh and Hariom were held from Rajasthan after a probe that began to ascertain details of a black car that was caught in a CCTV camera close to the site where the girl's body was dumped.
Harsh was sentenced to death under Indian Penal Code section 302 (Punishment for murder), while he got life imprisonment under section 376 (2) (rape), and seven years under section 201 for causing disappearance of evidence, the special PP said.
Hariom was given life imprisonment for murder and 10 years in jail under IPC section 364 for kidnapping, he said, adding the sentences will run concurrently.
The two were also charged under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Parmar said the court took into account 43 witnesses, including the confessional statement of the co-accused and others who saw them taking the woman from the construction site.

02 March 2022 :

The Pune court on 28 February 2022 pronounced the death penalty to a 38-year-old man in a case related to sexual assault and murder of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl. The case was registered at Velha police station of Pune district in February 2021, and it was put on fast-track following orders by Pune rural Superintendent of Police Abhinav Deshmukh.
In the operative part of the order, Principal District Judge (special judge for POCSO cases) Sanjay Deshmukh stated, “The accused Sanjay Baban Katkar is held guilty for the offences punishable under Sections 363 of Indian Penal Code and under Section 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, 235(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and he is sentenced to death for the offence, punishable under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He shall be hanged by the neck till his death as stated under Section 354(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure subject to confirmation of the Hon’ble High Court, Bombay, under Section 366 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.”
The child was kidnapped from a village in Pune district and was found dead on the next day in Panshet area of Pune district on 15 February 2021. 

14 February 2022 :

A POCSO court in Rajasthan has awarded death sentence to a man for raping and killing a four-year-old girl, police officials said in Jaipur on 11 February 2022.
Special Court of POCSO cases, Judge Sandeep Kumar Sharma sentenced accused Suresh Kumar Balai (25) to death under Section 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 302 of the IPC besides slapping a fine of Rs 3 lakhs.
In its judgment, the court said: “The accused committed such a brutal crime against a four-and-a-half year old girl that even an animal would never.”
The accused raped the minor and then drowned her in the pond to escape conviction.
During the trial in POCSO Court, along with the statements of 41 witnesses, 141 documents were presented as evidence. The Special Public Prosecutor said that the court sentenced to death Suresh for raping and killing the child.
The judge further said: “The accused had tormented an innocent girl who had no understanding other than just eating, drinking and sleeping, and killed her by throwing her into water to destroy the evidence. In such a situation, the accused not only raped the child with the extent of unimaginable lust and cruelty, but also committed unimaginable unnatural acts. Therefore, he should be hanged to death.”
Special Public Prosecutors Mahavir Singh Kishnawat and Vijaya Pareek said that child’s mother had filed a report on 12 August 2021 that her four-year-old daughter had gone to the neighbourhood on the previous day but did not return.
The girl’s body was later found floating in a pond. The post-mortem report showed rape and unnatural acts before the murder.
The police formed different teams for investigation and on 13 August, arrested the accused and presented a challan against him in the court in the next eight days.

03 May 2022 :

The Bombay High Court permitted 2 convicts sentenced to death in 2017 for raping and killing a minor girl to pursue their studies through open university while in prison.
In an order passed on April 18, a bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak said the convicts' desire to pursue education was "welcome" and directed Yerwada prison authorities, where the convicts are lodged, to "adopt a humanitarian approach," and "extend necessary assistance" to help them pursue their studies.
Convicts Jitendra Shinde and Nitin Bhailume were sentenced to death by a trial court in November 2017 for raping and murdering a minor girl in 2016 in Kopardi in the state's Ahmednagar district.
The Maharashtra government moved HC for confirmation of the death sentence, while Shinde and Bhailume moved HC challenging their conviction.
Both matters are pending in HC.
In 2019, the duo filed a plea in HC seeking that they be permitted to study while in prison.
On April 18 this year, Maharashtra government counsel Sangeeta Shinde told HC that once the admission process at the Yashwanrao Chavan Open University Divisional Centre, Pune, began for academic year 2022-23, the two petitioners will be granted admission.
The bench then directed Yerawada Central Jail authorities to take appropriate steps to get the two convicts admitted in the courses of their choice.
"We further observe that as the petitioners have expressed their desire to pursue academic course in Open University, such desire be treated as welcome steps, and the prison authorities to extend all necessary assistance by adopting humanitarian approach to the desire of the petitioners," HC said.

27 February 2022 :

The Bombay High Court on 23 February 2022 quashed the death sentence of a man convicted of killing and raping a girl on the ground that the accusation of murder could not be proven.
The HC, accordingly acquitted the Thane-based man, a labourer from charges of murder, however, confirmed the the sentence of life imprisonment handed down by the trial court for rape.A bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithviraj Chavan was hearing a plea filed by one Ashok Mukane, who was awarded death penalty for brutally killing a girl after raping her.
As per prosecution case, Mukane allegedly raped a young girl, a resident of Asangaon at an isolated place near the local railway tracks and due to her resistance killed her by hitting some blunt object on her head and brushing her head to a rough surface.
The bench, however, while considering of the material on record, noted that there weren't any abrasions or even an injury mark on Mukane's person. It also noted that his clothes too weren't torn, which is a usual case in a forcible rape case.
The bench further considered the fact that there wasn't any catching material on record to prove that Mukane killed the victim.
"There is no cogent and clear evidence brought on record by the prosecution to indicate that it was none other than Mukane, who had inflicted serious injuries on the person of the victim including smothering, compression of neck or hitting on her head with hard and blunt object. It is, therefore, difficult to construe that he was responsible for causing homicidal death of the victim," the bench said.