Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

An SC/ST Court in Uttar Pradesh recently sentenced the prime accused in the Hathras gang rape and murder case to life imprisonment. The main suspect Sandeep Sisodia (Sandeep Thakur) was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 IPC) and offence under Section 3(2(v) of the SC/ST Act, however, the other three accused were cleared of all charges.

It is noteworthy that none of the accused were held guilty of the offence of gang rape by the court of Special Judge (SC/ST, Pev. of Atroci Act) Hathras, Judge Trilok Pal Singh.

The trial court, in the detailed 167-page judgment, noted that there was no medical evidence of the victim's gang rape and apart from that, she had not disclosed the commission of the offence in her initial statement to the police.

Moreover, the court underscored that the victim was alive till 7-8 days after the incident and was capable of talking therefore it could not be said that the intention of the accused was to murder her. Accordingly, court held Sisodia guilty under Section 304 of IPC instead of Section 302 of IPC (murder).

Further, regarding the allegations of gang rape, the judge opined that the incident had certainly taken a political form and many people were coming to meet the family members of the victim, so the possibility that the victim had been tutored to change her statement later could not be ruled out. 

Furthermore, the court said that it was the statement of the victim's mother that the victim had told the names of all the four accused and had described the incident of gang rape after two-three days of the incident, however, this evidence was not credible as 5 days after the incident, the victim in her statement to police told only the name of one accused and did not tell about rape.

The case came to the limelight in September 2020 after the allegedly forceful cremation of the gang rape victim At 2 Am by Uttar Pradesh Police and administration instead of handing her body to the family.

The victim was allegedly gang-raped and attempts had also been made to kill her. A few days later, the victim succumbed to her injuries at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The matter also reached the high court when the Allahabad High Court, in October 2020, took suo moto cognizance of the issue and a PIL was registered pertaining to deceased's right to decent & dignified last rights/cremation.

Case Title: State v. Sandeep & Ors