The Bombay High Court on Saturday set aside the death sentence handed out to a State transport bus driver Santosh Maruti Mane who had mowed down nine people and injured 37 others in Pune in January last year, after holding that the trial court had not considered the argument of the convict on the quantum of punishment.
Hearing an appeal made by the rouge driver against his conviction and confirmation of death penalty awarded to him by a Pune-based trial court, a HC bench of Justices PV Hardas and PN Deshmukh observed that it would be just and proper if the convict was heard on the point of sentence and referred the matter back to the trial court to the extent of hearing the convict on the point of sentence.
The judges ordered that Mane be produced before the trial court in Pune on October 15, for a hearing on argument by the convict on the point of the quantum of sentence. They said that the trial court would pronounce sentence on Mane, after hearing the arguments made by the convict’s lawyer. The HC bench set aside the trial court’s death sentence verdict, after concurring with the contention of Mane’s lawyer J D Mane that the trial court had not considered the argument of convict on the sentence.
Though Prosecutor Madhavi Mhatre argued that the defence counsel had indeed presented Mane’s side in the trial court before it awarded death sentence to the convict. However, this did not reflect in court record. Fifteen months after he had “hijacked” a state transport bus and mowed down nine persons and injured 37 others on the Pune streets, Additional Sessions Judge VK Shevale handed out capital punishment to the convicted driver.