leaders of all the political parties, activists and people from different walks of life on Wednesday hailed the verdict in the much-discussed Ahmednagar rape and murder case in which the Ahmednagar trial court awarded death sentence to all the three convicts, with most of them rooting for early execution of the trio.
Welcoming the verdict, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said: “The verdict has sent a strong message to all those having tendencies of committing sexual crimes. The ruling will deter them from indulging in such acts in future. The verdict has also enhanced the confidence of people in the Judiciary”.
“The incident was highly condemnable. The police investigated the case in quickest time and nabbed the culprits behind the incident. Ujjwal Nikam whom we appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor, did a fabulous job. He successfully foiled the efforts by the defence lawyers to delay the trial. On two occasions, the court imposed fine on defence lawyers seeking to delay the trial,” Fadnavis said.
Maharashtra’s former chief minister and state Congress President Ashok Chavan said: “We welcome the Court verdict awarding death sentence to all three accused. Justice has been done to the victim girl’s family”.
Chavan, however, said that the state government should take the responsibility of ensuring that the Bombay High Court confirmed the death sentence handed out to the three convicts by the trial court. “In addition, we demand that the state come out with a fool-proof legislation to deal with atrocities against women,” he said.
Expressing his satisfaction over the trial court’s verdict, leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said: “The trial court has done justice to the victim girl’s family. But, the state government should go all out to ensure that the high court confirms the trial court’s verdict. The verdict will definitely deter miscreants from committing similar crimes in future. The Maharashtra government should table the women protection bill in the State legislature”.
NCP MP Supriya Sule, who was in the fore front of an agitation for justice to the victim girl in the Kopardi case, said:”I welcome this verdict from the bottom of my heart. What happened was extremely unfortunate. We may not be able to compensate fully the parents, particularly the mother, for loss of their daughter. I am satisfied that the court has done justice to them. We should also strive to ensure that the three convicted rapists are executed without any delay. This will be a way we can send a strong message to all such men to think at least ten times before indulging in such ghastly acts”.
AMIM Aurangabad MlA Imtiaz Jaleel said “....We feel that the Government instead of hanging the three rapists within the confines of a jail should instead hang them in a road square of the city/village where the rape was committed and the entire hanging should be shown live on television”.
Maharashtra State Women Commission (MSWC) Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said: “I expressed my gratitude to the trial court for the speedy and efficient manner in which it has done justice to the victim girl’s family members. It is also note-worthy that the State Government handled the case in a most sensitive manner. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took personal interest in the case. We have to thank him. It is because of his efforts that the investigation and the process of prosecution of the accused in the case could be completed expeditiously”.
