24-year-old Rathi had died of multiple organ failure on June 1, 2013, after Panwar threw acid at her on May 2, 2013.
Mumbai Sessions Court gave death sentence to convict Ankur Panwar in the Preeti Rathi acid attack and murder case on Thursday.
The prosecution had on Wednesday demanded capital punishment for 26-year-old Ankur Lal Panwar. Special Judge AS Shende, who convicted Panwar on Tuesday, heard the prosecution and the defence on the point of sentence.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam termed the case fit for death sentence, saying that it falls in the "rarest of the rare" category. Objective of the sentencing is to deter criminals and like-minded persons from committing such crime, he said, contending that "the court would be failing in its duty if a just and appropriate punishment was not awarded". Nikam submitted that the country has now become so conscious about crime against women that after the Delhi gangrape case of 2012, amendments were made to IPC. Acid attack is a crime against women, he said, seeking an exemplary punishment for the convict.
Panwar did not commit the crime on the spur of the moment but it was a pre-planned attack, said the prosecutor. "If he is given a lesser punishment and if he is released after completing the sentence, other girls would not be safe," Nikam said.
Meanwhile, the district legal services authority has asked the Maharashtra government to pay a compensation of Rs two lakh to Rathi's parents, besides another Rs 2000 for the expenses of her funeral. Her parents had applied to the authority for compensation.
Panwar's lawyer Apeksha Vora pleaded leniency for her client, citing his young age and that he was the sole breadwinner for his family.
Rathi, then 24-years-old, had died of multiple organ failure at a private hospital on June 1, 2013, after Panwar threw acid at her at Bandra railway station in Mumbai on May 2, 2013.
Rathi had come to Mumbai to join as a nurse at a defence hospital. Panwar was Rathi's neighbour in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony in Delhi. According the charge sheet filed by Mumbai Police in April 2014, Panwar, a hotel management graduate, committed the heinous crime out of jealousy.
Police said that Panwar had become jealous of Preeti who had secured job at the INHS Ashvini Hospital of the Defence Ministry in south Mumbai. His parents often ticked him off for his failure to get a job and praised Preeti, police said. He wanted to disfigure her face to destroy her career, the charge sheet had said.
With PTI/ANI inputs.
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