Court hearing begins in Shakti Mill rape case

Mumbai: The hearing in the Shakti Mill rape case began Thursday in the Bombay high court. The accused’s lawyer Yug Choudhary started arguments against the newly-included IPC section 376 (E), under which, repeat gang rape offenders can be awarded the death sentence. Advocate Choudhary argued that this section was arbitrary and unconstitutional.

Mr Choudhary further argued that the death sentence awarded to Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari was bad in law since there existed an ‘enormous difference between the harm caused by them’ and ‘the punishment meted out to them’.

In April 2014, a sessions court held five persons guilty in the case, of which Siraj Khan got life imprisonment.

The second accused, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility. And Jadhav, Bengali, and Ansari were sentenced to death under the then newly-introduced section 376 (E) of the IPC.

The trio moved the high court, challenging the constitutional validity of the law under which they had been sentenced to death for a repeat offence.