Bombay high court confirms death to killer ST driver

The Bombay high court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus driver Santosh Mane, who hijacked an empty bus and went on a rampage killing nine people and injuring 36 in Pune in 2012.

Why did HC confirm death penalty?
A division bench of justices VM Kanade and PD Kode upheld the death sentence awarded to Mane by the sessions court at Pune, observing: "This is an exceptional and rarest of the rare cases where the crime is so cruel, diabolical and revolting so as to shock the collective conscience of society." The court also dismissed the appeal filed by Mane.

What was another important observation?
In their 114-page order copy, the judges have said that this was not a simple case where a bus driver committed an accident or couldn't stop the bus due to some technical fault. "This is not a case of a driver of a public vehicle committing a road incident driving a bus while on duty but a case where, after hijacking the bus, he killed innocent people and damaged public property undaunted by all attempts made to dissuade him from his killing spree of hapless victims," the judges observed.

What did HC say about Mane's insanity claim?
Seeking leniency, Mane's lawyer Jaideep Mane argued that his client did not have the motive to commit such a heinous crime and that at the time of the incident he was of "unsound mind". However, the judges rejected the claim and said that doctors had certified that Mane was of sound mind. It said death penalty is justified in this case. The court said that it could not be accepted that "an insane act cannot be committed by a sane mind".

Why 'reform' argument didn't help Mane?
Considering the nature of the crime, the judges dismissed the argument that a person like Mane can be reformed and be a part of the civilised society again. "It cannot be condoned on the fond hope that such a person may in the distant future will be reformed and claim right to live in a civilised society," observed the HC.

What happens next?
When the HC confirms the death sentence awarded to person by a lower court, the convict can technically be hanged in a couple of days. However, to give such a person a fair chance, the court stays its own order so that he can appeal against the order in the Supreme Court. In this case too, the court has stayed the its ruling to allow Mane to approach the apex court.

Important HC quotes
Such a dastardly and inhuman act cannot be condoned on the premise that when society inflicts insults and injuries on a person, it gives right to individuals to take revenge against the society and its innocent members either on account of assumed religious sanction or individual retribution of wrongs done to him

We, therefore, have to do this unpleasant task of upholding the death penalty though we concur with some of the views expressed by the people who advocate abolition of death penalty from the statute book.

As long as death penalty remains on the statute book, we have to carry out this task of deliberating whether death penalty was justified in this case and we feel that it was.