Rape graver offence than murder: State government

Mumbai: The state government argued before the high court that rape is a grave offence as compared to murder and a comparison between the offences of murder and rape is completely wrong.

The advocate general, who represented the state government, told the court that the petitioner’s contention that the life of a victim is destroyed after murder is acceptable but the life of a rape victim gets destroyed, too.

A division bench of Justice B.P. Dharmadhikari and Justice Revati Mohite Dere was hearing a bunch of petitions filed in the Shakti Mills gang-rape case when advocate general Ashutosh Kumb-hakoni said, “It is not permissible to weigh in the scales of justice whether murder is an offence worse than rape, and a comparison of the two offences is impossible.” He also cited the case of KEM hospital nurse Aruna Shanbaug who remained in a vegetative state for over 40 years following a brutal sexual assault.

The AG said, “I would go a step ahead and say that rape as an offence is graver than murder. Rape alters the rest of the life of the victim, destroys her personality and often victims of rape commit or attempt to commit suicide.”

In April 2014, a sessions court held five persons guilty of rape of a woman photo-journalist at the Shakti Mills compound. Of them, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari were sentenced to death under the then newly-introduced IPC section 376 (E) as they were convicted in a previous case of gang-rape.

The three have challenged the constitutional validity of section 376 (E), which awards the death penalty for a repeat offence of rape.