Death for ‘devilish, diabolical’ crime

Justice Banumathi, one of 3 SC judges who upheld death penalty, says Dec 16 case will be an eyeopener for movement to end violence against women

If at all there is a case warranting award of death sentence, it is the present case, said Justice R Banumathi, one of the three Supreme Court judges who on Friday sent the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 gangrape-cum-murder case to gallows.

The lone woman judge in SC, Justice Banumathi appeared shocked with the gruesome incident, as it got reflected in her judgement she authored separately.

She expressed hope that the “gruesome incident” and “death of the young woman” will be an eye-opener for a mass movement “to end violence against women”.

Justice Banumathi stressed on the need to include “genderequality” in school curriculum, saying law alone could not save women in the society today. Battle for gender justice could be won with strict implementation of legislative principles and sensitisation of public.

Teachers should be trained not only to conduct regular personality building and skill enhancing exercise, but also to keep a watch on the actual behavioural pattern of the children so as to make them gender sensitised, she said.

Although Justice Banumathi agreed with her colleagues’ conviction that the four convicts deserved no mercy, her reasons for believing the same were different.

Recounting the nation-wide protests that sparked in the aftermath of the gruesome crime, Justice Banumathi said crime against women was an unlawful intrusion of her right to privacy, which offended her self-esteem and dignity.

She found no justification in the defence argument that the four should not be awarded death sentence because they came from a poor background, were of young age or had displayed good conduct post-crime. Justice Banumathi called the circumstances stated by the accused as too slender and discarded their plea to treat them as mitigating circumstances.

The case had caused ripples in the conscience of the society and raised serious doubts of whether “we really live in a civilised society where both men and women feel the same sense of liberty and freedom,” Justice Baumathi said in her judgement.

She shared her concern over the decline in respect for women despite the progress made by them in education and in various fields. Police figures were quoted by her to point out that crime against women was on the rise.

Justice Banumathi quoted Swami Vivekananda and said crime against women not only affected the self-esteem of the fairer sex but also degraded the pace of societal development. For increasing awareness among various sections of the society, Justice Banumathi said banners and placards in public transport vehicles must regarding women safety.

Mobile apps for immediate assistance of women should be introduced and effectively maintained, she said.

The main verdict written by Justice Dipak Misra on behalf of Justice Ashok Bhushan called the crime a diabolical incident that sounded “like a story from a different world where humanity has been treated with irreverence”.

“The appetite for sex, the hunger for violence, the position of the empowered and the attitude of perversity, to say the least, are bound to shock the collective conscience which knows not what to do,” said Justice Misra. For the accused, he said, the victim became an object of fun and enjoyment.

What shook the two judges was the sadistic pleasure the accused exhibited after “ravising” the victim sans any feeling. They just threw her and her friend out of the moving bus as if it was a matter of routine, the judges said.

And, they did not stop there. The convicts tried to run the bus over them so that the evidence against them is destroyed.