Citing that the accused Haresh Rajput (47) “is a serious menace to the society and should be mercilessly and inexorably punished in the severest terms”, a division bench of Justice Dr S Radhakrishnan and Justice Roshan Dalvi awarded the maximum punishment, enhancing the life sentence given by a Pune sessions court in 2001.

On October 24, 1999, Rajput, an alcoholic, had lured the victim with chocolates and subsequently raped and strangulated her at his residence in Pimpri, Pune. The victim’s family ran a business of selling eatables on the streets of Pimpri. Following the murder, the accused hid the body under a cot and, according to the prosecution, later confessed to his son Kushal but warned him against telling anybody.

According to Additional Public Prosecutor A R Patil’s submission, Kushal immediately informed the police.

Around the same time, the victim’s family members were lodging a complaint regarding the missing girl. The police reached the spot and found the body covered in blood along with the blood stained clothes and bed sheets.

The post mortem revealed that the victim had died of asphyxia due to strangulation associated with sexual assault. It revealed eight serious injuries on the victim’s private parts. The police also recovered the rope used to strangulate the girl.

Patil argued for enhancement of the sentence citing the heinous nature of the crime. The judgment lists nine points that rendered this one among the rarest of rare cases (see box).