'Impulsive Young Men Lured By Wealth, Not Professional Killers': Bombay High Court Commutes Death Penalty In Kidnap-Murder Case

The Bombay High Court recently, while commuting the death sentence of two men to 30 years jail term— for kidnapping and killing a young boy, observed that the two convicts were 'typical young men' who were 'baffled' as their plan to become wealthy did not work and so for 'immediate solution' they killed the boy.A division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande though opined that the act of Chetan Pagare and Aman Jat in kidnapping a known boy and killing him after inflicting multiple injuries was 'abhorrent' and 'ruthless', yet the same did not qualify to be a 'rarest of rare' case."We must note that the accused persons, aged 25 and 22 years, at the time of commission of crime, were two young persons and in an attempt to acquire wealth by foul means, asked the deceased to be in their company, and he walked into their trap but he was then confined with a view to solicit ransom from his father. The quest of two young persons to acquire wealth, and to become wealthy and live a comfortable life cannot be described as an exceptional desire, considering their age, they chose a simple mechanism of abducting a boy known to them. It is no doubt true that a young boy has been done to death by inflicting multiple injuries, and the body was taken to an isolated place and disposed of and this act of the accused definitely is abhorrent but in our view that itself is not sufficient to categorise the case in 'rarest of rare' category for imposition of death sentence," the judges said.The judges pointed out that some criminal cases were lodged against the convicts but noted that they were not convicted in any of those cases. "They were not even professional killers but were lured by the temptation of wealth pursuit by receiving the ransom amount knowing very well that the boy kidnapped by them belongs to a wealthy family. The accused persons definitely hatched a conspiracy for kidnapping Vipin for fetching the amount of ransom, and when two phone calls made to victim's family, did not yield any result, being baffled about what is to be done about the victim who was in their confinement, they thought it appropriate to eliminate him, as, if he was released they would have faced the charge of kidnapping and, typical of young men, being impulsive and impetus, who wanted to find an immediate solution without being bothered about the long- term consequences, caused his death and, to shield themselves from any evidence being found attempted to dispose of the body at a desolate place, but ultimately they were nabbed, investigated, and tried," the judges said. The 71-page judgment pronounced on June 25 but made available earlier this week, emphasised that the preplanned and concerted effort on the part of the two accused in kidnapping the victim for ransom, holding him in confinement, making calls for ransom, and when the demand of ransom is not satisfied, doing him to death, definitely is inhuman, cruel and ruthless act, and the penalty imposed must prove to be a deterrent. "But when we proceed to answer the question whether it is one of the 'rarest of rare cases,' our answer is in the negative. While imposing the extreme penalty of death, it is imperative to apply the proportionality test and keep in mind the rational and objective connection between capital punishment and the purpose for which it is prescribed. Imposition of every penalty is intended to create a deterrent effect, but it is not every death done or murder committed, where the sentence prescribed is death penalty, the Court is justified in imposing death sentence," the judges held. With these observations, the bench commuted both Pagare and Jat's death sentence to 30 years rigorous imprisonment without remission facility. Notably, Pagare and Jat were sentenced to death by a special court in Nashik in December 2022 for having kidnapped an engineering student named Vipin Bafna on June 8, 2013 when he was out for attending a dance class. However, when he did not return, his family got tensed but later by 11:30PM he called them only to inform that he was going to stay overnight at a friend's house and would return home the next morning. When Vipin did not return the next morning, the family contacted the dance classes owner, who informed that he did not attend the classes on the previous day i.e. June 8, 2013. The family then lodged a missing complaint and with the police probing the case in detail, it was disclosed that Vipin was kidnapped by Chetan and Aman with a view to demand Rs 1 crore ransom, however, when their demands were not met, they killed him. Appearance:Additional Public Prosecutor PN Dabholkar appeared for the State. Advocates Nitin Satpute, Rachit Singh and Abhishek Bandekar represented Chetan Pagare.Advocates ST Pandey, Kajal Upadhyay, Deepak Singh, Imran Agsar and Deepika Jaiswal instructed by SBG Legal represented Aman Jat.Advocates Mahesh Pawar, Mihir Kasliwal and Rahul Kasliwal represented the Bafna Family. Case Title: State...

'Impulsive Young Men Lured By Wealth, Not Professional Killers': Bombay High Court Commutes Death Penalty In Kidnap-Murder Case

Narsi Benwal

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Narsi Benwal

'Impulsive Young Men Lured By Wealth, Not Professional Killers': Bombay High Court Commutes Death Penalty In Kidnap-Murder Case

Narsi Benwal

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Narsi Benwal

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