Gujarat HC commutes death sentence of man who killed five members of family

"The convict has been in jail for 22 long years. Considering the situation, the court believes that death penalty is not appropriate for him. The death penalty has been commuted to life long imprisonment," said a Division Bench of Gujarat High Court while changing the sentence.

   

"As per the rulings of Supreme Court in recent cases, capital punishment can be commuted to the life term if the convict has been in jail for so many years," the Bench said.

   

Though the Bench has ruled out any remission in the sentence, it said, “Considering the circumstantial evidence, a case of murder is there and there shall not be a remission from life term.”

"Earlier in 2011, special CBI court convicted Raoji Pawar in the murder case and awarded death penalty to him," said prosecution counsel Yogesh Rawani.

   

"In 1992, Pawar had killed five persons of one Indian family in Dubai while he was working there as a house servant. Once he was caught molesting Ramesh Sagar's daughter Jyoti by the family head himself. He was scolded and beaten up by Sagar," the court order read.

   

"To take revenge, he killed his master Ramesh Sagar, Sagar's mother, wife, daughter and one relative. He first killed Sagar which was witnessed by his wife. He then killed the wife and then entire family to assure that there was no witness left to name him in the murder and molestation case," the order read while narrating the motive of the killing.

   

"He then fled to Chikhali town of Surat. As the murder case was registered in Dubai, Interpol sent an alert to Gujarat Police which trapped him from his home at Chikhali and charged him for murder," it said.

"Under Section 188(2) of CrPc (if an Indian citizen is involved in murder overseas, it deems to be done in India) he was indicted and case was transferred to CBI for trial," the order read further.

"After 17 years, the CBI court while convicting him for murder awarded death penalty and sent the case for confirmation to the High Court where on Thursday, the High Court commuted the death penalty," said CBI counsel.

(Agencies)

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AAP trying to emerge as third alternative in Gujarat

The AAP is confident that breaking the jinx, it would emerge as an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress in the coming elections, party state convener Sukhdev Patel said.    

The state has witnessed formation of many small and big political parties since its inception in 1960, but those parties have fizzled out due to lack of electoral success, a trend which is in contrast to many other Indian states, where regional parties are becoming stronger day-by-day.
   
Former chief minister Chimanbhai Patel had formed his Kisan Mazdoor Lok Paksh (KIMLOP) but it did not take off as expected. Later, he along with Chabbildas Mehta formed Janta Dal (Gujarat) also, but later merged it with the Congress party.
   
Another ex-chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, dividing the BJP formed his own party called Rashtriya Janta Party (RJP), which he later amalgamated into the Congress due to lack of electoral success.
   
Former CM Keshubhai Patel formed the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) just before the 2012 elections but now is on the verge of merging with BJP after his announcement to retire and other members mulling to rejoin the saffron outfit.
   
Several other small parties were formed but did not survive in Gujarat. Also, neither Left or other regional parties like Shiv Sena which tried to spread its wings met any success.    

"Its true that no third party has survived in the state except BJP and Congress..we accept it but AAP is different than political parties which were created earlier," Patel said.
   
"In the past, dissidents of BJP or Congress had revolted to form political parties as they felt that injustice have been meted out to them. They could not succeed in elections and all the parties formed by them had to wind up," he said.
       
"AAP is different, as it is not a regional party but a national party, formed with a view to give corruption-free governance," Patel said.

"If membership drive before the Lok Sabha elections is any indication, we have so far been able to register four lakh people from Gujarat, which shows that general public is not happy with either the ruling BJP or Congress," Patel said.    

"There is a match fixing between Congress and BJP and that is the reason people are coming in large number to join us," he said.
   
The Congress and BJP have however, dismissed the possibility of AAP emerging as a thrid party in the state 'defying history'.
   
"In the history of this state, it has not accepted any third party, unlike in many other states. They might get some benefit of their stance against corruption but the party has not yet made any mark in Gujarat," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
   
A BJP leader said, "Any number of parties are welcome to fight elections here, but the historical trend has been that the state has accepted a two-party system and rejected the third party outrightly."

(Agencies)

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