Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of three individuals involved in the brutal 2015 massacre of four relatives over a farm dispute in the Hiwarkhed Police Station area, Telhara taluka, Akola district. The court deemed the case not to be a “rarest of rare” instance, altering the verdict handed down by the Trial Court.
Justices Vinay Joshi and Abhay Mantri awarded life imprisonment to the father, Haribhau Rajaram Telgote (66), and 30 years of rigorous imprisonment to his son, Shyam alias Kundal Haribhau Telgote (35). Meanwhile, the mother, Dwarkabai Haribahu Telgote (55), was acquitted due to insufficient evidence linking her directly to the murders.
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Thursday 21 Nov. 2024
The incident took place on June 28, 2015, in Malpura village, Tehsil Telhara, where Haribhau, Dwarkabai, and Shyam launched a vicious attack on four relatives — Baburao Sukhdeo Charhate, Dhanraj Sukhdeo Charhate, Gaurav Dhanraj Charhate, and Shubham Dhanraj Charhate — using weapons including a knife, sickle, and axe. The attack, witnessed by several villagers, left the victims dead on the spot. The accused were apprehended shortly after, with bloodstains on their clothes providing clear evidence of their involvement.
While the Trial Court had sentenced the accused to death, citing the extreme brutality of the murders and the unusual involvement of a woman in the killings, the High Court found the lower court’s reasoning problematic. The High Court emphasized that each case should be evaluated based on its specific facts, rather than generalizing through statistical data or irrelevant factors.
The High Court’s judgment also took into consideration the age and health of the accused. Haribhau, due to his advanced age and poor health, was granted life imprisonment. Shyam, who was 25 at the time of the murders, received a sentence of life imprisonment without remission for 30 years. The Court ruled that the death penalty in this case was disproportionate, making life imprisonment with a long non-remission period more appropriate.
In addition to the commutation of sentences, the High Court reduced the fine imposed on the convicted individuals. While the Sessions Court had set the fine at Rs 50,000 for each of the accused, the High Court lowered it to Rs 10,000 each. Furthermore, Dwarkabai was cleared of all charges and ordered to be released immediately, as the prosecution failed to establish her involvement in the killings.
Advocate Rajendra Daga represented the accused during the legal proceedings.
