3 get death penalty for rape, murder of Dalit woman in Telangana

A special court in Telangana on Thursday (January 30) sentenced three men to death for raping and murdering a Dalit woman in little over two months of the gruesome crime reported, in November 2019.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs.26,000 on them.

The body of the 30-year old woman with throat slit and stab marks was found in Lingapur Mandal of Kumram Bheem-Asifabad district on November 25, 2019, a day after the offence.

The three men – Shaik Babu, 35, Shaik Shabuddin, 50, and Shaik Muqdum, 45, all labourers, were arrested on November 27 and booked under IPC sections 376(D)(gang rape) and 302 (murder) besides under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and sent to judicial remand.

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The second and the third accused were also booked under IPC section 404 (dishonest misappropriation of property). On Thursday, Principal District and Sessions Judge M.G. Priyadarshini (in charge of the special court) delivered the verdict.

Additional public prosecutor (APP) M. Ramana Reddy said the trio had also been sentenced to life imprisonment under IPC section 376(D), while the second and the third convicts were also sentenced to three-years’ imprisonment under IPC section 404 for stealing the mobile phone and Rs.200 cash of the deceased. All convictions shall run concurrently. According to the APP, the court held it as the ‘rarest of rare case.’ The woman was a vendor who sold balloons for a living. Expressing happiness over the verdict, the woman’s husband said, “We are happy. Justice has been meted out and we request the court that they should be hanged immediately.”

The Telangana government had last month issued orders, designating the Fifth Additional Sessions Court as the special court for speedy trial in the case.

On December 14, 2019, a charge sheet was filed and the trial commenced on December 23. Arguments were completed on January 20 and the case was subsequently posted for judgment.

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