Ravneet Singh

Panchkula, May 4

While pronouncing capital punishment to four people in the 2016 Nuh double murder and gangrape case, CBI Special Judge Rajeev Goyal said what pricked the conscience of the court was that the convicts showed no mercy to anyone at the spot.

The convicts Vinay, Jai Bhagwan, Hemant Chauhan and Ayaan Chauhan have also been fined Rs 2.05 lakh each. The court had earlier acquitted Tejpal Yadav, Amit Yadav, Ravinder Yadav, Karamjit, Rahul Verma, and Sandeep.

On the night of August 24, 2016, armed men had barged into a house in the fields at an isolated place in Nuh. The family members were sleeping outside. Two of them were beaten and murdered, while a 21-year-old married woman and a 16-year-old girl, who were sleeping inside the house, were gangraped.

The Haryana Police had initially registered a case on August 25. The matter was later handed over to the CBI.

Defence lawyers SPS Parmar and Abhishek Singh Rana, who represented Tejpal Yadav, Amit Yaday and Ravinder Yadav, said, "There was a contradiction in the statements of witnesses before the police and the CBI, as well as before the court. The court thus acquitted the six individuals."

Only those four accused were convicted against whom there was evidence in the form of DNA matching and fingerprints. The DNA of those convicted matched with the traces on the victims' clothes.

The CBI Special Judge, in his judgment, said, "hellip;they (convicts) are not entitled to be shown any leniency in the matter of award of sentence in as much as they not only killed a Muslim couple by hitting them with sticks on their heads but also gangraped a minor girl of 16 years and a married woman of 21 years in a most brutal, cruel and ruthless manner."

He added, "What pricks the conscience of this court in this case is that the convicts showed no mercy to anyone at the spot."

The gangrape became all the more humiliating and traumatic as it was committed in the presence of their family members. Though few of them were tied to the cots, they could very well sense what was happening with the young girls, and in such a state of affairs, one might just imagine what the family members must have gone through at that time, said the judge.

Hemant Chauhan, Ayaan Chauhan and Vinay, alias Lambu, had been convicted earlier and sentenced for gangrape under the POCSO Act, said the court. They had been convicted in four different cases earlier. Jai Bhagwan also remained involved in criminal cases.

"In this view of the matter, the convicts being habitual of committing very serious and grave offences, are a serious threat to the society. Their chances of reformation and rehabilitation are very bleak," said the judge, concluding that the case fell in the category of "rarest of rare" cases.

Serious threat to society

In this view of the matter, the convicts being habitual of committing very serious and grave offences, are a serious threat to the society. Their chances of reformation and rehabilitation are very bleak. — Rajeev Goyal, CBI special judge