Chhawala rape case: Supreme Court acquits three convicts who were awarded death penalty

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Monday acquitted three convicts who were awarded death penalty by a Delhi Court after being held guilty of raping and killing a 19-year-old woman in Delhi’s Chhawala area in 2012.

The victim, who was called ‘Anamika’ by the lower courts was found dead in a field with multiple injuries inflicted on her allegedly by multiple objects ranging from car tools, cigarettes, and earthen pots. Reports reveal that acid was also poured on the face of the deceased.

What did the court Say?

A Delhi court in February 2014 convicted three men Rahul, Ravi and Vinod for rape and death of Anamika and awarded them the death penalty.

The capital punishment was confirmed by the Delhi High Court on August 26 2014, saying they were “predators” moving on the streets and “were looking for prey”.

On April 7, when the Supreme court had reserved its judgement on the case, Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing as an amicus curie, had submitted that there is ‘scope for reformation’ of the accused. She said that one of the accused Vinod is suffering from intellectual disability and pleaded that a sympathetic approach should be taken.

The Bench comprising of Justice U. U. Lalit, Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice S. Ravindra Bhat pointed out that a rod was used by the accused.

The Counsel for the accused submitted that the injuries were also not grave. The amicus curiae apprised the Court of the situation of the accused in jail and about the intellectual disability of an accused.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the state, supported the sentence awarded to the accused. She submitted that there were 16 brutal injuries to the victim and 10 injuries were inflicted after death.

However, on Monday, the SC reversed the lower court’s decision and acquitted all three accused.

Case facts

The case dates back to February 2012, when a 19-year old girl’s body was found in Haryana. The girl was brutally killed after being raped.

Reports say that Anamika hailed from Pauri district of Uttarakhand and lived in Qutub Vihar area. She was abducted in a red Indica car on her way back to home from work on February 9.

Her mutilated body was recovered five days later in Rewari, Harayana. Apart from gangrape. She was brutally thrashed and grievious injuries were inflicted on her.

A case was registered regarding this at outer Delhi’s Chhawala (Najafgarh) police station.

During investigation, Rahul was intercepted by police when he was roaming around in the same car, days after the incident. He allegedly confessed to the incident and revealed names of Ravi and Vinod.

The lower court had awarded them death penalties based on the case evidences including DNA test reports in 2014. The case was kept in the ‘rarest of the rare’ category.

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