Kopardi Case: Can the Co-Accused Receive Death for Conspiracy?

Kopardi rape & murder: Will the higher courts overturn death for the two co-accused convicted for conspiracy?

Candle light march by women for justice. Image for representational purpose only.

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A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district today awarded death penalty to all three men convicted in the brutal rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Kopardi in July 2016. While the key convict in the case - Jitendra Shinde - was convicted for raping and murdering the minor, the co-accused - Santosh Bhawal and Nitin Bhailume - also received the same sentence despite being convicted for criminal conspiracy and abetment of the rape and murder, as per the information The Quint has at the moment.

We spoke to senior lawyers to understand whether the sentence awarded to the two co-convicts, Bhawal and Bhailume would hold up in the higher courts given their extent of involvement in the crime committed.

There have been times when the case goes to high court and the sentence is reduced or set aside also. They have been booked for conspiracy and not for raping the girl. The law says the same punishment will be meted out to them as the actual person (key accused) because they had a common intention.

Abha Singh, Lawyer

The primary reasons why the co-convicts in the Kopardi case, Bhawal and Bhailume, received the death penalty for their involvement in the crime was because prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, established the crime as the ‘rarest of rare cases.’ With no eye witnesses present, the entire case against the trio was circumstantial in nature but senior advocates say that was enough to award the duo capital punishment.

Death sentence can definitely be given on circumstantial evidence provided that it is the rarest of rare cases and if the rarity is built upon the basis of the facts of the case. You have to show that the crime is gross and not acceptable in society, then you can get the death sentence. This also applies in the case of criminal conspiracy and abetment.

Rizwan Merchant, Lawyer

While arguing, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam noted that Nitin Bhailume and Santosh Bhawal were not physically present at the scene of the crime but Jitendra Shinde had given a missed call to Bhailume when the duo was in the vicinity of the crime - which drew them into the net of conspiracy, abetment and common intention. The prosecutor also argued that the two accomplices were present when Shinde had “teased” the 15-year-old two days prior to the incident.

This is not something unusual, considering the growing rate of crimes against women, particularly rape and murder, this is a warning to the potentials. I definitely support that. Now, the question is how far will it be upheld by the superior court? That depends on the nature of the evidence.

Nitin Pradhan, Lawyer

Many of the legal experts we spoke to say that while there have been many instances where the accomplices have been sentenced to death in terror related cases. In cases related to rape and murder however, life imprisonment is the maximum punishment that the court usually hands out to those convicted for conspiracy and in many cases the higher court has overturned the judgment.