Omkar Gokhale.The Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of a 25-year-old man for the murder of his mother, wife and two-year-old daughter in 2012. A Division Bench of Justices BP Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi upheld the death sentence given by a Pune sessions court in 2016, ruling that,.“The accused does not deserve any sympathy and he is doing nothing but a menace to the society. After finishing his entire family, now there is no question of reformation of accused. He may be dangerous to even his colleague who is married with some other person.”.Case background.Vishwajeet Masalkar was accused of killing his family members in 2012 after they raised objections over an extramarital affair he was having with his colleague. Following the murder, Masalkar informed the police that his mother, wife and child had been killed during a theft that had taken place in his house..However, during the course of the investigation, the police found his version of events improbable, particularly given that there was no evidence of any item in the house having been stolen, nor any sign of forced entry. Moreover, the police found it suspicious that the old man residing in the neighbouring flat had sustained injuries..The police eventually found that Masalkar himself had injured his old neighbour to prevent him from complaining about the murder. Masalkar was, therefore, booked under Section 302 for the murder of his family members, Section 307 for attempting to murder his neighbour, apart from Section 201 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for giving false information..Submissions.Appearing for the accused, advocate Payoshi Roy argued that the accused is too young to be served a death sentence. Roy also submitted that a divorce petition filed by the accused was pending before the Court and that he had no intention to kill his wife and mother. He submitted that there was nothing on record to show that the accused was beyond reform or rehabilitation..However, Public Prosecutor Arfan Sait submitted that the matter squarely fits in the category of rarest of rare. Sait argued that the accused appeared to have little regard for the value of human life. He contended that there was little chance of reformation for the accused and that chances are that the accused would indulge in the same activity again..Judgment.In view of the unprovoked, cold-blooded murder committed by the accused, the Court ultimately held,.“Conduct of the accused and his act of killing his family members clearly indicate that he is unfit to revert in civilised society. The conduct of accused is beyond rapprochement.”.The Bench, therefore, confirmed the death sentence imposed by the lower court, finding that it qualifies as a case falling under the rarest of the rare category. As noted in the judgment,.“By finishing his family, the accused has tried to shatter the basic foundation of the society. In our considered view, sentencing the accused with life imprisonment would not be proper sentence for him.”.[Read Judgment].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp
Omkar Gokhale.The Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of a 25-year-old man for the murder of his mother, wife and two-year-old daughter in 2012. A Division Bench of Justices BP Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi upheld the death sentence given by a Pune sessions court in 2016, ruling that,.“The accused does not deserve any sympathy and he is doing nothing but a menace to the society. After finishing his entire family, now there is no question of reformation of accused. He may be dangerous to even his colleague who is married with some other person.”.Case background.Vishwajeet Masalkar was accused of killing his family members in 2012 after they raised objections over an extramarital affair he was having with his colleague. Following the murder, Masalkar informed the police that his mother, wife and child had been killed during a theft that had taken place in his house..However, during the course of the investigation, the police found his version of events improbable, particularly given that there was no evidence of any item in the house having been stolen, nor any sign of forced entry. Moreover, the police found it suspicious that the old man residing in the neighbouring flat had sustained injuries..The police eventually found that Masalkar himself had injured his old neighbour to prevent him from complaining about the murder. Masalkar was, therefore, booked under Section 302 for the murder of his family members, Section 307 for attempting to murder his neighbour, apart from Section 201 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for giving false information..Submissions.Appearing for the accused, advocate Payoshi Roy argued that the accused is too young to be served a death sentence. Roy also submitted that a divorce petition filed by the accused was pending before the Court and that he had no intention to kill his wife and mother. He submitted that there was nothing on record to show that the accused was beyond reform or rehabilitation..However, Public Prosecutor Arfan Sait submitted that the matter squarely fits in the category of rarest of rare. Sait argued that the accused appeared to have little regard for the value of human life. He contended that there was little chance of reformation for the accused and that chances are that the accused would indulge in the same activity again..Judgment.In view of the unprovoked, cold-blooded murder committed by the accused, the Court ultimately held,.“Conduct of the accused and his act of killing his family members clearly indicate that he is unfit to revert in civilised society. The conduct of accused is beyond rapprochement.”.The Bench, therefore, confirmed the death sentence imposed by the lower court, finding that it qualifies as a case falling under the rarest of the rare category. As noted in the judgment,.“By finishing his family, the accused has tried to shatter the basic foundation of the society. In our considered view, sentencing the accused with life imprisonment would not be proper sentence for him.”.[Read Judgment].Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp
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