NEW DELHI: Four convicts in the December 16 gang rape-cum-murder case were on Friday awarded death penalty by a Delhi court which said the gravity of the offence cannot be tolerated.

“Death to all,” Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said while delivering the verdict in the case that had evoked nationwide outrage and led the government to bring in a stringent anti-rape law.

“Besides discussing others offences, I straightaway come to section 302 (murder) of IPC. This falls under inhuman nature of the convicts and the gravity of offence they committed cannot be tolerated. Death sentence is given to all the four convicts,” he said.

The offence committed by Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) falls under the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment, the judge said.

The four were convicted by the court on September 10 for the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student.

“Court cannot turn a blind eye to such a gruesome act,” the judge said, while handing down the maximum punishment.

He said, “When crime against women is rising on day-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut.”

“There should be exemplary punishment in view of the unparallelled brutality with which the victim was gang-raped and murdered, as the case falls under the rarest of rare category. All be given death,” the court said while reading out a portion of the order.

“This is a time when serious crime against a woman has come to the fore and now its judiciary’s responsibility to instill confidence among the women,” it said.

Besides murder, the four have been also convicted for offences including gangrape, unnatural offences, attempt to murder, dacoity, destruction of evidence, conspiracy, kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, while acquitting them of the charge of murder in dacoity. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on corrupt players, the BCCI on Friday slapped life bans on Indian Test pacer S. Sreesanth and spinner Ankeet Chavan for being involved in the IPL spot-fixing scam while handing out lesser punishments to some others in the scandal which rocked the Twenty20 league this year.

Amit Singh, a former Rajasthan Royals player, was handed a five-year ban, while another RR cricketer Siddharth Trivedi got away with a lighter one-year suspension after the BCCI disciplinary committee met here to discuss anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani’s report on the scam.

“After considering the evidence on record and hearing each of the players in person, the Disciplinary Committee has passed the following order...Amit Singh is banned for a period of five years from playing any representative Cricket, or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affiliates,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in a statement.

“Siddarth Trivedi is banned for a period of one year from playing any representative cricket or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affiliates.

“Ankeet Chavan is banned for life from playing any representative cricket, or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affiliates.

“S. Sreesanth is banned for life from playing any representative cricket, or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affiliates,” the statement added.

Young spinner Harmeet Singh was, however, let off for lack of strong evidence against him.

“The case against Harmeet Singh has been closed in the absence of evidence against him.”

The release had no mention of Ajit Chandila, who allegedly lured the cricketers into the spot-fixing net, but a BCCI official said a decision on him will be taken at a later stage.

Since Chandila has just been released on bail, the BCCI would like to give him an opportunity to depose in front of the committee before deciding the quantum of punishment.

The life bans on Sreesanth and Chavan were expected after Sawani had found them guilty of spot-fixing and had himself recommended a life ban.

The scandal, which broke out in May, had shaken the cash-rich Twenty20 event and led to a massive churning within the Board.

“All the disciplinary committee members were very cooperative and it went off well. I gave them my side of the story. All I have dreamt from childhood is to play for India and I will never cheat the game,” Sreesanth said after appearing before the committee.

“I have full faith in the judiciary as well as the BCCI and I will come clean on this whole issue,” added the 30-year-old former Test pacer, who was clad in a white shirt and blue denim jeans and was accompanied by a friend, Manoj.

The five players’ deposition came even as Sawani’s report was discussed by the BCCI committee, headed by BCCI President N Srinivasan and comprising Board vice-Presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.

Sawani has held Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan guilty of conceding a “pre-determined number of runs per over in exchange for bribes.”

Trivedi and 21-year-old Harmeet were cleared of the spot-fixing charges, but were found guilty of not reporting the approaches made by bookmakers.

Sawani has recommended bans ranging from five years to lifetime for the players, who even served jail time before being granted bails.

“The disciplinary committee may consider my report and impose such sanctions as considered appropriate to send out a strong signal indicating the zero tolerance policy of the BCCI to any corruption in the sport that is so dear to millions of Indians and fans abroad,” Sawani has said in the report.

“Obviously, the anti-corruption education given to the players had no impact on the conduct. Therefore, the players deserve no leniency whatsoever,” he asserted.

A fourth player who did not appear before the committee but was found guilty is Amit Singh. Singh, part of the IPL till last year, was described by Sawani as “the bad fish that spoils the entire pond“.

Today’s meeting also assumed significance because of the presence of Srinivasan, who stepped aside as BCCI president after his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for alleged betting.

Srinivasan’s company India Cements owns CSK.

The day-to-day functioning of the BCCI is currently being handled by former Board President Jagmohan Dalmiya but Srinivasan has rarely missed an opportunity to make his presence felt. By chairing today’s meeting, he has once again tried to assert his position in the Board.

The spot-fixing scandal broke out when Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila were arrested on May 16, along with 11 bookies, and were charged under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The scandal led to an overhauling of the guidelines for players and owners in the IPL. The BCCI drew up an action plan called ‘Operation Clean-up’ which envisaged a series of measures to curb corruption in the IPL.

Cheerleaders were barred along with the after-match parties for players and support staff. It was also decided to restrict the movement of owners in the players dug-out and dressing room. — PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s domestic T20 champions, Faisalabad Wolves have been issued visas to tour India to participate in the qualifying round of the Champions League Twenty20 to begin later this month.

“The visa has already been issued. The passports would be handed over as and when they come to collect it at the Indian Embassy in Diplomatic Enclave,” an official source told PTI.

The team was earlier denied visas on the ground that they faced a security risk in India.

It was feared that that if the Wolves made their way up in the tournament, they would be playing at different cities across India and hence security could have been a problem.

“As a matter of abundance precaution and caution in terms of safety and security, the government did not give green signal for the cricket team’s visit,” government sources had said in New Delhi.

The Faisalabad team, led by Misbah-ul-Haq, was invited to play in the qualifying round of the CLT20 to be held across different cities of India from September 17 to October 6. — PTI

Muzaffarnagar: Violence-hit Muzaffarnagar was calm for the fourth day on Friday, with Uttar Pradesh officials saying that the three days of violence had left over 43,000 people homeless.

And with the town and its surrounding areas inching towards its old self, cautious authorities Friday relaxed curfew for 12 hours — 7 am to 7 pm.

An official told IANS that the night curfew would be in place till the weekend.

“Once the situation becomes normal, we will completely lift the curfew,” said a senior police official.

District authorities say more than 43,000 people who fled their homes, primarily from surrounding villages, are being sheltered in the 38 relief camps hurriedly set up in the district.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has sanctioned funds for financial compensation to the injured, riot-affected and ex-gratia for the next of kin of the 43 persons officially listed as killed in the violence.

An official said Rs 3.1 crore had been distributed to riot victims thus far.

Recovery of arms and cancellation of arms licenses continued, with 300 more revoked till late Thursday.

Home Department officials said the police were trying to zero in on people who “electronically distributed” a fake video clip that aggravated the violence after Septemebr 7.

As many as 70 persons have been named in different first information reports (FIRs) but none has been arrested.

Over 10,000 people continued to be under preventive detention. The police has confiscated a large amount of ammunition, including AK-47 cartridges.

The violence erupted last weekend after simmering discontent following the harassment of a young woman Aug 27 in a village Muzaffarnagar district.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav have accused rival parties of triggering trouble in Muzaffarnagar, a bustling city 130 km from New Delhi, and nearby areas. — PTI

SRINAGAR: Curfew remained in force for the second day on Friday in major towns of South Kashmir after five persons were killed in firing by security forces in Shopian.

Curfew was reimposed on Thursday in Shopian and later in evening in Kulgam and Kakpora town in Pulwama as a preventive measure to maintain law and order following widespread clashes on Wednesday in which a youth was killed, taking the death toll in the area to five since Saturday.

Police and CRPF personnel have been deployed in these areas as well as other major towns in Kashmir valley as a precautionary measure, the officials said.

Separatists have asked the people to stage peaceful demonstrations after Friday prayers to protest against the killings.

The prohibitory orders were invoked after the youth was killed in the CRPF firing on protestors outside Gagran camp of the force, while 13 others suffered pellet injuries.

The protestors were demanding removal of the camp and arrest of the personnel involved in firing incident last week that left four persons dead, including three civilians.

The state government on Thursday ordered a magisterial probe into the death of five persons in Shopian and directed the District Magistrate to submit the report within one month.

The government also directed DGP Ashok Prasad to replace the CRPF personnel at Gagran camp with Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police. — PTI