Dalit Woman Won an Open Sarpanch Seat, They Killed Her Husband For It. Bombay HC Upholds Upholds Life Sentence For 10 Convicts

Yavatmal- The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has delivered a significant verdict in the much hyped 2018 murder case from Parwa village in Yavatmal district, in which the husband of a woman sarpanch was hacked to death in broad daylight. A division bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Justice Nivedita Mehta upheld the life imprisonment awarded by the Special (Atrocity) Court in Yavatmal and dismissed the appeals filed by all ten convicts. The judgment was pronounced on August 4. What began as a bitter political rivalry over a village sarpanch election ended in the brutal daylight murder of a man on a village road, and after an eight-year legal battle, the High Court's ruling now marks a major milestone in the case.

The Background Of The Case

Nalini Gawande, a resident of Parwa village in Yavatmal district, was elected a member of the Gram Panchayat in April 2015. In January 2016, after a no-confidence motion was passed against the then sarpanch, Rama Chimurkar, Nalini Gawande was elected sarpanch of Parwa Gram Panchayat. However, the post of sarpanch was reserved for the Open Category, and Nalini, who belonged to the Buddhist community, becoming sarpanch was opposed by a rival group in the village. Accused No. 2, Munna Thakur, publicly objected to her election, and disputes between the two groups began almost immediately.

In December 2017 the accused allegedly abused Nalini's husband Mahesh Gawande over his caste, and in January 2018 another dispute broke out over the allotment of water hand pumps in the village. On January 27, 2018, accused Munna Thakur allegedly called Nalini and threatened over the phone that "her husband would be killed." The very next day, on January 28, the accused persons attacked Nalini's house, damaged household articles, and also assaulted one Praful Shambharkar. Harassed by these repeated confrontations, Nalini and her family had moved to Yavatmal town to live.

Hacked To Death With Swords And Sickles On A Public Road

On March 27, 2018, at around noon, Nalini, along with her husband Mahesh, son Mayur and nephew Samyak, came to Parwa village as Mahesh had called workers Shaikh Imran and Shaikh Israil to repair his house. At around 1 pm, Mahesh left the house with the two workers on the pretext of eating "kharra." Near the Anganwadi, while Mahesh was talking to Prashant Shambharkar, Nitin Lokhande, Raju Kawale and Prakash Bhagat, who were playing cards there, all the accused forming an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons , arrived at the spot and attacked Mahesh Gawande.

Hearing the commotion, Mahesh's son Mayur and nephew Samyak rushed to Nalini and told her that her husband was being attacked. Nalini then ran to the spot and witnessed the accused assaulting her husband with weapons. She shouted for help, people gathered, and the accused fled the scene. Police reached the spot and shifted Mahesh Gawande's body to Yavatmal District Hospital. That evening, Nalini lodged a formal complaint with the police.

According to the post-mortem report, Mahesh Gawande's body bore seventeen injuries, including stab and incised wounds near the left eye, on the cheek, jaw, forehead, chest and abdomen. A cut-throat injury was also found. The medical officer concluded that the injuries were caused by sharp, pointed weapons such as a knife, chopper, sword and sickle, and recorded the cause of death as multiple stab injuries along with a cut-throat injury.

What The Investigation Revealed

During the investigation, police recovered a sword, a sickle and other weapons from the accused. The chain of custody of these weapons was established through various panchanamas placed on record. Forensic examination showed that soil collected from the crime scene matched soil found in the nail clippings of the deceased, a crucial piece of corroborative evidence that strengthened the eyewitness testimony. A total of eighteen witnesses were examined during the trial, with Nalini Gawande, her son Mayur, and independent witnesses Sharda Narayane and Prashant Shambharkar being the key eyewitnesses.

Following the completion of the investigation, police filed a chargesheet, and the case was tried before the Special (Atrocity) Court of the Additional Sessions Judge-2, Yavatmal, as Special Case No. 18/2018. On January 20, 2020, the trial court convicted the accused persons under Sections 302 (murder), 149 (offence committed in prosecution of common object of an unlawful assembly), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 143, 147, 148 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Convicts Approached The High Court

Sunil Deotale, Hanuman Pendor, Shubham Tekam, Raj Thakur, Munna Thakur, Vinod Chapariya, Sumit alias Pandya alias Sumedh Meshram, Pravin Bhagat, Bhimrao Awathare and Swapnil Kumbhekar- ten convicts in all, challenged the trial court's judgment through five separate criminal appeals before the High Court. Defence counsel argued that there were inconsistencies in the testimonies of the eyewitnesses, that the witnesses, being relatives of the complainant, could not be considered wholly reliable, and that the guilt of the accused had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The High Court rejected these arguments. The bench observed that eyewitness Nalini Gawande came from a rustic background, and when a number of intruders attacked with deadly weapons, a witness cannot be expected to give an entirely accurate, "photogenic" account of an incident that unfolded within a few minutes. Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in State of Punjab vs. Hakam Singh, the bench held that minor inconsistencies should not be given undue weight while appreciating the testimony of rustic witnesses.

The bench also extensively relied on the thirteen principles for appreciation of ocular evidence laid down by the Supreme Court in Balu Sudam Khalde & Anr. vs. The State of Maharashtra (2023). The Court observed that the testimonies of Nalini Gawande, Mayur Gawande, Sharda Narayane and Prashant Shambharkar were consistent, cogent and corroborative of one another, and that although the prosecution evidence suffered from some minor inconsistencies, these did not touch the core of the case.

Applying these principles, the Court held that all the accused, including Munna Thakur and Vinod Chapariya, were members of an unlawful assembly and had, in furtherance of a common object arising from political rivalry, caused the murder of Mahesh Gawande. While acknowledging that there was pre-existing political enmity between the accused and the complainant's family, since Nalini Gawande had been elected sarpanch to a post reserved for the Open Category , the Court clarified that the existence of prior enmity alone does not undermine a conviction based on cogent evidence.

Final Verdict: All Appeals Dismissed

Concluding its 179-page judgment, the bench held that on a comprehensive appreciation of the oral evidence, medical evidence, scientific evidence and other proven facts, the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused, being members of an unlawful assembly, had in furtherance of their common intention committed the murder of Mahesh Gawande out of political rivalry, punishable under Section 302 read with Section 149 of the IPC. Accordingly, the trial court's conviction and sentence of life imprisonment were upheld, all five criminal appeals were dismissed, and the appeals were disposed of.

The case stands as a stark illustration of how far political power struggles at the village level can escalate. While the judgment records the caste-related background in considerable detail, the High Court's final finding was based on the prosecution's evidence establishing the murder and the accused persons' involvement, with political rivalry identified as the backdrop to the crime.

Speaking to The Mooknayak, Nagasen Sonare, National President of the Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace (ACJP), said ACJP had been involved in the case from the very beginning, from the registration of the FIR and filing of the chargesheet to supporting the victim’s family throughout the trial in their efforts to secure justice. The organisation also helped the family obtain police protection, financial relief and employment assistance for the daughter of the deceased, Mahesh Gawande.

He further said that the case was raised with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva in November 2022, with an appeal to the United Nations to direct India to take urgent steps to prevent caste atrocities.

“Our ACJP team, led by the Maharashtra Secretary, followed the matter from day one,” Sonare said, adding that Advocate Pradeep Rathore, who represented the victim, “worked extremely hard to secure justice.”

Sonare also congratulated Vinod Tatke and the ACJP Maharashtra team for their efforts in securing justice for late Mahesh Gawande.