It also stated that the mentality of the accused exhibits that they took sadistic pleasure in killing the innocent youths, and called it an act of "showing off their might"
In the 113-page judgment passed by the Nashik sessions court in the Sonai honour killings case, the court held that the act committed by the six convicts was crueller than the most dreaded animal killing for hunger or self-defence. It also stated that the mentality of the accused exhibits that they took sadistic pleasure in killing the innocent youths, and called it an act of "showing off their might".
Comparing casteism in a civilised society to a contagious and fatal disease, the judgment further reads, "It affects social and cultural heritage. The phenomenon of honour killings is the outcome of that sociopsychic milieu of typical societies where certain patterns of human behaviour, particularly that of women, is recognised as marking dishonour to their families and communities and the lost honour is reimbursed by killing them."
While justifying the sentence, the court further held, "Once the accused are held guilty, they must realise that they have committed an act which is not only harmful to society, of which they form an integral part but also harmful to their own future, both as individuals and as members of society. To allow such persons to live would be like leaving wolves in a civilised society. I am of the clear opinion that if human beings of this nature are allowed to continue to live in present society, they will be a great threat to their fellow human beings."
According to the prosecution's case, the accused had killed three youths of the Menter caste in 2013, after they learned that their daughter was in a relationship with one of the three who was a conservancy worker. The police had discovered the three bodies of Sandeep Raju Thanwar (26), Sachin Sohanlal Gharu (22) and Rahul Kandare (20) in pieces from a septic tank and a neighbouring dry well. The court convicted Ramesh Dharandale, the girl's uncle; Ganesh and Prakash Dharandale, the girl's brothers; Sandeep Kurhe, the girl's cousin brother; Ashok Navgire, the deceased's friend, who used to work for Dharandale; and Popat Dharandale, the girl's father.
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