SC awards death penalty to two rapists

The Supreme Court on Friday awarded death penalty to a cab driver and his friend for rape and murder of a BPO employee in Pune in 2007, saying their act has shocked the collective conscience of the society.

Driver Purushottam Borate and his friend Pradeep Kokate had raped and killed the 22-year-old BPO employee, who was travelling in her company’s pick-up cab on November 1, 2007.

“The gruesome act of raping a victim, who had reposed her trust in the accused, followed by a cold-blooded and brutal murder coupled with the calculated and remorseless conduct of the accused after the commission of the offence. We cannot resist from concluding that the depravity of the appellants’ offence would attract no lesser sentence than the death penalty,” a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu said.

The apex court confirmed the capital punishment given to the duo by the trial court and upheld by the Bombay HC. “The convicts did not show any regret, sorrow or repentance at any point of time during the commission of the heinous offence, nor thereafter,” the court said.

The bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and Arun Mishra, rejected the plea of the convicts for commutation of their sentence to life term.

“It is clear that both the accused persons have been proved to be a menace to society which strongly negates the probability that they can be reformed or rehabilitated. The act shocks and repulses the collective conscience of the community and the court,” the bench said.

The court drew a parallel with the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was sent to gallows for the murder and rape of a teenage girl in 1990 at her Bhowanipur's apartment residence in West Bengal.

In its verdict, the court took into account the impact of the crime on the community and particularly women working in the night shifts.