Nearly four months after a 15-year-old girl was gang-raped and murdered in Kopardi village, a fast-track court on Wednesday framed charges against the three accused in the much-discussed case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act for rape and murder.
Special Judge Suvarna Keole framed the charges against three accused Jitendra alias Pappu Babulal Shinde (26), Santosh Gorkha Bhaval (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (28) under Sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder) of IPC and POSCO Act for allegedly perpetrating a sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl and then strangulating her in July this year.
The victim, who belonged to the Maratha community, was brutally raped on July 13 allegedly by three men who inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.
Judge Keole had, on Tuesday, rejected the plea made by Bhailume’s lawyer on the ground that his client had moved the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court seeking his discharge from the case and given a go-ahead of the court framing of charges against the three accused in the case.
The rejection of plea by Bhilume’s lawyer had come after Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam informed the court that there was no record to show that the accused had indeed moved the High Court.
Now that the charges have been framed against the accused, the trial in the rape and murder case will now be held almost on a day-to-day basis in the fast track court.
The Kopardi rape and murder case has generated considerable public interest in the State, especially after the Maratha community members-operating under the banner of Maratha Kranti Morcha -have made the handing out of swift punishment to the accused in this case as one of the demands in the ongoing agitation across the state.
On October 7, the Ahmednagar police had filed a 300-page chargesheet in a lower court against the three accused. The investigators had in all named 70 people as witnesses in the case.
Soon after the charge-sheet was filed, the court transferred the case to Additional District and Sessions Court of Ahmednagar and committed it to a fast-track trial.