- The Bombay High Court on June 3, 2019 upheld the constitutional validity of section 376 E of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which life imprisonment or death penalty can be awarded to repeat offenders in rape cases.
- A Division Bench of Justicdes B.P. Dharmadhikari and Revati Mohite-Dere was hearing criminal petitions filed by the three convicts in the 2013 Shakti Mill gangrape case challenging the constitutional validity of the Section 376E of the IPC under which they were sentenced to death by a sessions court.
What is the issue?
- Vijay Jadhav, Mohammed Kasim Bengali and Mohammed Salim Ansari were convicted for gangraping an 18-year-old telephone operator inside the abandoned Shakti Mills compound on July 31, 2013, and gangraping a 22-year-old photojournalist at the same place on August 22, 2013.
- The Mumbai sessions court on March 21, 2014 awarded life sentence to all the accused, however the fourth convict, Siraj Khan, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and a minor accused was sent to a correctional facility.
- The public prosecutor demanded that the accused should be under Section 376E, which was allowed on March 24, 2018.
- The trial court convicted the accused and the trio was awarded death sentence under the section on April 4, 2014. It was the first such conviction under under Section 376E.
About IPC 376E
- On the basis of recommendations of the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, on February 3, 2013, the provision was introduced by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
- The section deals with punishment for repeat offenders.
- Later the convicted trio approached the High Court challenging the validity of Section 376E and contended that the sessions court acted beyond its power in awarding them the death penalty.
