Additional sessions judge VK Shewale on Tuesday will hear convicted bus driver Santosh Mane on the point of sentence as directed by the Bombay High Court.
The High Court had set aside Mane’s death sentence observing that he was not heard by the trial court before passing the sentence and ordered the trial court to hear Mane on October 15.
Dhananjay Mane, counsel of Santosh Mane, said, “Mane will be heard and judge Shewale will give judgment in this regard and the judgment will be referred to the high court.”
On January 25, 2012, Mane, a driver employed by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) had stolen a bus from the MSRTC Swargate depot and mowed down nine people and injured 37 others with his reckless driving.
On April 8 this year, the trial court awarded death sentence to Mane, saying the crime committed by him was “the rarest of the rare” as he had killed people by running them over, fully conscious of the consequences of his act. The court had said Mane had not dashed the bus against any building on the roads but targeted people to kill them. Mane was held guilty and sentenced to death.
However, during the hearing of the appeal before the High Court, Santosh’s counsel Dhananjay Mane and Jaydeep relied on the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Santasingh vs State of Punjab, where stated that the court should hear the accused on the sentence and give him an opportunity to lead evidence on that point.
The bench of Justices PV Hardas and PN Deshmukh held that it would be just and proper if the convict was heard on the point of sentence. The bench remanded the matter back to the trial court for hearing the accused on that point.
‘Time-consuming procedure’
Former High Court judge BG Kolse-Patil said, “Such negligence of the judge has landed the case in time-consuming procedure. Such attitude is discussed when the panel of all High Court justices meets twice in a year over promotion of judges. The violation of law is violation of Indian Constitution. Accused’s rights have been guaranteed under the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution.”
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