Commutation of the death sentence of the three convicts in the gang-rape and murder of a dalit woman in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district to life term imprisonment is an instance of grave injustice to the victim and her family, said Bahujan Samaj Party State president R.S. Praveen Kumar.
Speaking with media persons, he said that the judgement rendered by the High Court commuting the death sentence to life-term jail is painful. The BRS government in Telangana boasts itself of constituting SHE Teams for the protection of women and installation of Ambedkar statue. “But the government did not respond over the commutation of the death sentence in this heinous case of three persons gang-raping a Scheduled Caste woman and murdering her,” Mr. Praveen Kumar said.
The government has to make it clear if it is siding with the convicts or with the victim’s family. The government should appeal against this verdict and ensure the three rapists and killers are hanged to death, the BSP president said. Because the victim belonged to Scheduled Caste community, the government is keeping mum over challenging the HC decision, he said.
Seventy-nine per cent of the lawyers in High Courts and the Supreme Court are from forward communities and hence the situations like denial of justice to people from the downtrodden communities is getting repeated, the BSP state chief said. “This should change and people from all sections and communities should be provided adequate representation in judiciary as well,” Mr. Praveen Kumar said.
In Nirbhaya case reported in Delhi, the killers got death sentence after eight years. In the case of Disha, the alleged rapists and killers got eliminated in an exchange of fire with the police which ultimately meant death for the accused. However, the killers in the case of Samatha of Asifabad district finally got their death sentence commuted to life term jail.
“Society and courts are not looking at extending justice to the families of victims,” he said. But the BSP would fight for the rights and justice for the victims from suppressed sections, he said.
