Jaipur: A district and sessions court in Lalsot, Dausa district, sentenced two men to death Friday for the 2022 gang rape and murder of a woman, holding that the crime fell in the “rarest of rare” category and justified capital punishment.Kalu Ram Meena and Sanju Meena were both found guilty of charges of kidnapping, gang rape and murder, among other charges. The court convicted them on Feb 19, and after hearing arguments on sentencing from the prosecution and defence, pronounced capital punishment Friday. While delivering the sentence, additional district Judge Ritu Chaudhary observed that the crime committed by the two was “extremely cruel, barbaric and shocking to the collective conscience of society”, noting that the victim was a “helpless and defenceless woman who was completely overpowered by the accused”.In its order, the court stated, “The conduct of the convicts is so brutal and inhuman that no punishment less than death would meet the ends of justice.”“The accused abducted the victim, gang raped her inside a car, and strangled her with a scarf when she resisted and threatened to inform her family,” special public prosecutor Mahaveer Singh told TOI. “They later drove around with the body for hours before dumping it in a deserted well in the Tunga police station area,” he said.The incident took place on April 23, 2022, and a missing persons report was filed by the woman’s uncle the following day at Ramgarh Pachwara police station in Dausa. The woman’s body was recovered on April 25.“We produced 149 pieces of documentary evidence and presented 45 witnesses. We maintained in court that the act by the two accused was cruel to an extent that even animals can’t do it,” Singh said.Apart from the death penalty under Section 302 IPC, the court also imposed life imprisonment under other applicable sections, along with fines against both convicts.
