Sakinaka rape-murder case: Accused Mohan Chouhan sentenced to death

Sakinaka Rape-Murder Case: A Special Court in Mumbai on Thursday awarded the death penalty to a man accused of raping and murdering a 34-year-old woman in the Sakinaka area last September.

Additional sessions judge (Dindoshi) H C Shende had convicted accused Mohan Kathwaru Chauhan under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on May 30.

The prosecution had on Wednesday demanded capital punishment for Mohan Chouhan (45) saying this offence falls under the 'rarest of rare' category.

"This is an offence against a woman and that too a woman belonging to a scheduled caste that makes it more serious," advocate Mahesh Mule, appearing for the prosecution, argued in the court on Wednesday.

"This is a gruesome, diabolical attack on a hapless, lonely woman at odd hours of the night, thereby raising fear for woman's safety in a metropolitan city like Mumbai," he had added.

According to police, Chauhan had raped the 34-year-old woman in a stationary vehicle and inserted a rod in her private parts in September last year. The woman died the next day during treatment at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital due to a heavy loss of blood.

The police had filed a charge sheet in the case just 18 days after the incident.