2011 Amboli double murder case verdict likely today

Mumbai: A special women’s court is likely to pronounce the judgement in the 2011 Amboli double murder case on Monday. Special judge Vrushali Joshi will decide the fate of the accused, Jitendra Rana, 29, Satish Dulaj, 39, Sunil Bodh, 24, and Deepak Piwal, 22, who have been in jail since their arrest on October 21, 2011.
The accused have been charged with killing Keenan Santos, 24, and Reuben Fernandes, 29, while they defended their group of women friends from being sexually harassed in Amboli on October 20, 2011.While Keenan died soon after the incident, Reuben died on October 30, 2011, in a hospital in Andheri.
Keenan’s father Valerian wants the accused to be awarded life imprisonment for their crime. “I am aware that the death penalty is reserved for the rarest of rare cases, and although the loss of a son is hardest to bear, I think this may not qualify for capital punishment. Moreover, if they spend the rest of their lives in jail, this will serve as a deterrent for potential offenders.”
“Mainly, I would like to know if life imprisonment means spending the remainder of one’s life in jail or just 14 years. If it is just 14 years, it will be a hotchpotch once again,” he said. Santos may appeal to a higher court if the verdict falls short of his expectations. Santos, his family consisting of his mother, wife and two other sons will be present in court for the judgement. “Many friends who were not present when the murders took place want to come too,” he said.
The father had written on Facebook about a young woman who approached him and invited him to tea, to tell him about how Keenan had once rescued her from goons who had assaulted her fiancé, who ran away, and were molesting her in 2011. “The lady told me that Keenan, who happened to pass by, hearing her pleas for help, slapped one of them. Both goons ran away,” Valerain said. He said the woman told him that Keenan then dropped her home. “She left her fiancee, calling him a coward. Now, she is happily married. Her husband told me she has a photo of Keenan and daily prays for him, calling him Brother,” Valerian recalled, saying he was proud of his son.
The case is one among the early ones to be tried before the special women’s court, which has an all-woman staff. In January 2013, Avinash Bali, an eyewitness and complainant in the case, moved an application before the principal judge of the sessions court seeking the transfer. Bali told the court that crucial witnesses in the case, the women friends who were sexually harassed and inappropriately touched by the accused, would be able to depose in a “free atmosphere” before a lady judge.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam examined 25 witnesses in court, five of who were eye-witnesses. The defence, in its final arguments, contended that the story that the women were sexually harassed was concocted. Defence advocate Wahab Khan in the 49-page final arguments alleged that Avinash, under the heavy influence of alcohol, assaulted one of the four persons.