Defence lawyers representing two of the three convicts in the Kopardi minor girl rape and murder case on Tuesday rooted for lenient punishment to their clients, with the prime accused Jitendra Shinde’s lawyer pleading for sparing his client of death penalty and another lawyers seeking minimum sentence to his client for involvement in the conspiracy and abetment in the case.
As the arguments on quantum of punishment began three days after the special court of district Sessions Judge Suvarna Keole held all the three accused in the case guilty and convicted them, two of the defence lawyers Yohan Makasare and Prakash Aher rooted for lesser punishment for their clients.
Yohan Makasare, defence lawyer representing the prime accused Jitendra alias Pappu Babulal Shinde (26) restricted himself to seeking lesser punishment for his client – who has been convicted for raping and murdering the victim girl.
Makasare, who has been appointed as the lawyer for the prime accused by the district legal aid committee, said: “I urged the court to spare my client of capital punishment and hand him life imprisonment”.
Defence lawyer Prakash Aher, who represented the co-accused Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (28), sought lenient punishment for his client in view of the fact that “there was eye-witness against my client in the case”
“My client Bhailume has been found guilty under section 120-b ( conspiracy) and 109 (abetment to crime). I told the court that there is not witness or eyewitness against my client. As that the charge of 120-b sought to be made out against my client does not form a chain in terms of crime. In addition there is no circumstantial evidence in the case which is entirely based on circumstantial evidence. The evidence produced by the Prosecution does not fulfil the requirement of conspiracy charge and abetment to crime,” Aher said, while talking to media persons outside the court.
Aher made out a strong case for his client being shown leniency on the basis of the fact that he came from poor background and studying in final BSc.
“He was neither involved in rape or murder. Nor is there any medical evidence against him. Since he has been found guilty for involvement in criminal conspiracy and abetment, I have requested the court to sentence him to a minimum of two years’ imprisonment”.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and defence lawyers – representing accused number two Santosh Gorkha Bhawal (30) in the case—will present their arguments before the special court on Wednesday.
While Nikam seek severe punishment for three convicts in the case, senior lawyer Balasaheb Khopade and his lawyer-daughter Vijayalaxmi Khopade will plead for court showing leniency to their client Bhawal.
Vijaylaxmi, who had made final arguments on behalf of accused Bhaval in the case, said: “My client had no role to play in either rape or murder in the case. My client has been held guilty of involvement in conspiracy (120-b of IPC) and abetment (section 109 of IPC). We will urge the court to hand out minimum punishment to our client”.
After Special Public Prosecutor Nikam and defence lawyers representing Bhawal complete their arguments on quantum of sentence, the special court may hand out sentences to the three convicts late on Wednesday afternoon or on Thursday morning.
A 15-year-old victim girl, who belonged to the dominant Maratha community, was brutally raped between 7.35 pm and 8.15 pm July 13, 2016 and later throttled to death. The victim girl was on her way to bring spice from her grandfather house at that time.
All the three accused in the case are Dalits. The incident, it may be recalled, had sparked widespread protests in the State, with various political parties and Maratha organisations rooting for capital punishment to the accused.
The fast-track court had on November 9 last year framed charges against three accused — Jitendra Shinde, Santosh Bhawal and Nitin Bhailume — under various sections of POSCO Act and IPC for allegedly perpetrating a sexual assault on the victim girl and strangulating her.
The Prosecution’s case is that the prime accused Jitendra Shinde allegedly raped and murdered the girl, while two other accused Bhawal and Bhailume had “conspired” with Shinde in the heinous crime.
During the trial which began on December 20, 2016, the Prosecution had examined 31 witnesses, while defence lawyer defence lawyer Vijayalaxmi Khopade – representing one of the three accused Bhawal in the case – examined one witness.