Four men have been handed death sentences by a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Panchkula for the 2016 murder of Muslim a farmer and his wife, and the gangrape of their two nieces, at Dingerheri village near Tauru, in Haryana’s Nuh district, reported The Indian Express.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajeev Goyal ordered that the four convicts – Hemat Chouhan (30), Ayan Chauhan (24), Vinay (36) and Jai Bhagwan (31) – be hanged by their necks. The court also imposed on them a collective fine of Rs 8.2 lakh.
On April 10, the court had found the four men guilty of double murder, gangrape and dacoity. The court, however, acquitted six others – Tejpal Yadav, Amit Yadav, Ravinder Yadav, Karamjit, Rahul Verma and Sandeep – who had been accused in the same case.
On the intervening night of August 24 and August 25, 2016, a group of 4-5 persons had entered the home of the 40-year-old farmer and attacked his family with lathis and iron rods in Dingerhedi, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The central agency had taken over the investigation at the Haryana government’s request.
The attackers, who were were carrying a pistol, gangraped two females, one of whom was a minor at the time, before looting ornaments and cash from the home. The farmer and his wife were killed in the attack while others were grievously injured, the investigation found.
The court said that given the serious and grave nature of the convict’s offences, they were not entitled to be shown any leniency in the matter. “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,” the court held.
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