Gurugram: A special CBI court in Haryana Saturday sentenced four men to death for the murders of a farmer and his wife and the gangrape of two of their family members, including a minor, at Dingerheri village in Haryana’s Nuh district in 2016.
Calling it a “rarest of the rare” case, Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajeev Goyal awarded the capital punishment to Hemat Chouhan (30), Ayan Chauhan (24), Vinay (36) and Jai Bhagwan (31), also imposing a combined fine of Rs 8.20 lakh.
In his order, the judge stated that “the aggravating circumstances” of the crimes “completely outweigh the mitigating circumstances” of the convicts as cited by the defence, and hence, they “are required to be awarded severest and deterrent punishment”.
“The present case, therefore, falls within the category of ‘rarest of rare’ cases which calls for award of capital punishment to the convicts and any lesser sentence would do grave injustice not only to the victims and their family members but to the collective conscience of the society,” the order, seen by ThePrint, read.
On 10 April, the special CBI Court at Panchkula had convicted the four, finding them guilty of double murder, gangrape and dacoity. In the same order, the court had acquitted six accused — Tejpal Yadav, Amit Yadav, Ravinder Yadav, Karamjit, Rahul Verma, and Sandeep.
According to the CBI, a group of 4-5 people had entered the house of a farmer at Dingerheri village — located in Tauru tehsil — on the intervening night of 24 and 25 August, 2016. They had then attacked members of his family with lathis and iron rods. The farmer and his wife were killed in the attack while four others sustained grievous injuries.
The accused, who had a pistol on them, also gangraped a woman aged 21 and a 16-year-old girl, and robbed them of cash and ornaments.
“Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter at hand, I am of the considered opinion that in view of serious and grave offences committed by the convicts, they are not entitled to be shown any leniency in the matter of award of sentence inasmuch as they not only killed a Muslim couple by hitting them with sticks on their heads but also gangraped a minor girl of 16 years and a married woman of 21 years in a most brutal, cruel and ruthless manner,” read the order.
It went on to say: “In the process, they also caused grievous hurt to the persons of ‘J’ and his wife ‘A’ and they had done so with the intention to kill them. They did not even spare their sons namely ‘N’ and ‘P’ who too were inflicted injuries.”
‘Like monsters’
The order stated that the convicts’ motive was to commit robbery and they had already planned that they would not hesitate to kill whoever would come their way. After attacking the family, they decamped with cash, ornaments and other valuables. What is most significant to mention here, it further said, is that the convicts committed these acts without any provocation on the part of any member of the victim’s family, it added.
“What pricks the conscience of this court in this case is that the convicts showed no mercy to anyone on the spot. They could have simply gone away after looting cash and ornaments but they murdered the couple…and caused injuries to…their sons…when they were sleeping. Not only this, on having sight of the young girls there, they while acting like monsters, gangraped both of them,” read the order.
“Rape is more heinous than murder as it destroys the very soul and entire psychology of a helpless woman and pushes her into deep emotional crises. It is a crime against basic human rights. Rape is the ultimate violation of the self. It is a humiliating and traumatic event in a woman’s life, which leads to a fear of existence and a state of powerlessness,” it added.
The order stated that the gangrape of the woman and the girl became all the more humiliating and traumatic as it was committed in the presence of their family members.
Going into the mitigating circumstances cited by the defence, the court held that the fact that the convicts are young and belong to a socially, economically and educationally deprived strata of society will not lessen the degree of the crime.
“In my firm opinion, the aggravating circumstances…will completely outweigh the mitigating circumstances and hence, convicts are required to be awarded severest and deterrent punishment,” the judge stated in the order.
The court emphasised that “while reaching this conclusion”, it was “not unmindful of the fact that right to life is the essential content of all rights under the Constitution and if life is taken away, all other rights cease to exist”, but it “cannot ignore is that there was no provocation and the manner in which the crime”.
Political row over Dingerheri case
Days after the crime, the Haryana government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the local police to investigate. However, then Rajya Sabha MP from JD(U) Anwar Ansari and human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi had addressed a press conference in Delhi in September that year, seeking a CBI inquiry.
Congress MLA from Nuh Aftab Ahmed told ThePrint Sunday that the state government had then not paid heed to the demand for a CBI probe and then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had called the crime a “chhoti moti ghatna (a small issue)”.
“It was due to our agitation and the CM coming under pressure for terming this as a small incident that he was forced to send the case to CBI for investigation in December 2016,” added Ahmed.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati too had reportedly called out Khattar over allegedly referring to the crime as a small issue, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi take cognisance of the then CM’s words.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Photos with Modi & Yogi, campaigned for MP polls — IIT-BHU gangrape accused were part of BJP IT Cell