Mumbai: Physio's injuries show beastly behaviour of convict, says court

MUMBAI: Nearly three years after a 24-year-old Mumbai physiotherapist was raped and murdered at her home, a sessions court on Friday sentenced a 29-year-old West Bengal man to death. On September 24, additional sessions judge Abhishri Dnyaneshwar Deo had found Debashish Dhara guilty of charges of murder, rape, unnatural sexual offences and house trespass.

The prosecution said Dhara, a ‘peeping Tom’, entered her room at night, when she was asleep, and raped her.

“Our own home is considered the safest place to be. The victim was an innocent helpless young woman who was sleeping in her own house. The murder is committed for motive which evidences total depravity, meanness, and is committed without any provocation,” the judge observed. The court sentenced Dhara to death under two separate charges —murder and inflicting injuries during rape that caused death. The court said the gravity of the incident depicts the “hair-raising beastly and unparalleled behaviour”.

“Subjecting of the victim to inhuman acts of torture before her death had not only shocked the collective conscience, but calls for the withdrawal of protective arms of the community around the convict. This ghastly act of the convict definitely fits this case in the bracket of the rarest of rare case,” the order said.

Court: Physiotherapist’s injuries show beastly behaviour of convict

The prosecution had submitted that on the intervening night of December 5 and 6, 2016, Dhara, a ‘peeping Tom’, went into the physiotherapist’s room, raped her, committed unnatural sexual acts using a roller comb, and murdered her. The murder came to light when neighbours found smoke emanating from the mezzanine-floor room around 3.30am. Her father and a neighbour broke open the door and found her dead with a pair of jeans tied around her neck. Books were placed on her body and set on fire. “Thus, exhibiting extreme mental perversion not worthy of human condonation. This unprovoked crime demonstrated exceptional depravity in the mind of the convict,” the court said.

Dhara was caught from Medinipur district in West Bengal, on January 28, 2017, almost two months after the murder.

Special public prosecutor Raja Thakare, assisted by advocate Siddharth Jagushte, had examined 21 witnesses in the case. Thakare had also sought compensation for the physiotherapist’s family submitting that she was young and aspiring to go abroad for higher studies, but due to financial constraints she could not fulfil her dreams. The court has recommended the state government to give adequate compensation to the family under its scheme.

In the detailed judgment copy made available to Dhara, the court observed that all murders are cruel, but cruelty may vary in its degree of culpability. “And it is only when the culpability assumes proportions of extreme depravity it constitutes the special reasons for inflicting the death penalty and it can be justifiably imposed,” the court said.

Dhara appeared stoic after the court pronounced the sentence at 12.30pm. But he became agitated after being taken into the accused dock at the back of the courtroom and repeatedly requested policemen and his advocate, Tushar Gangawane, to take him out. The police then took him to a room on another floor of the court premises.

The physiotherapist’s family, including her parents and younger sister, and a friend were present in court. Expressing relief at the verdict, her mother said, “I want him to suffer just like he made my daughter suffer before he killed her.” Her father cried.

The death sentence will have to be confirmed by the Bombay high court.

The judgment said that aggravating circumstances in the case outweighed the mitigating circumstances like Dhara’s age, impoverished background and lack of criminal antecedents. The court pointed out to multiple injuries inflicted on the victims private parts, neck, head and said “ It showed the beastly behaviour of the convict and the suffering inflicted on the unguarded and unprotected victim is unparalleled.”

The court also said that the offence relates to commission of heinous crime of rape and murder by an accused who is seen to be searching for prey by peeping inside the house at midnight. “The offence of murder was committed for the petty achievement of satisfying lust of the accused. The crime is committed so brutally that it shocks the conscience of society and also judicial conscience,” the court said.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)