Additional district judge L S Pavshe sentenced to death...

Additional district judge L S Pavshe sentenced to death Shivaji Alhat, 45, a former schoolteacher, for raping and murdering 10-year-old Hemalata Nanavre of Junnar, in Pune district, on January 14, 2002. Justice Pavshe said the accused deserved no mercy as he had committed a heinous crime. "The accused has deprived the girl of her right to live. The court is, therefore, forced to levy a suitable punishment on him," the judge noted. Branding the accused "a shaitan" (demon), Pavshe said the judiciary would be failing in its task if it did not pronounce the death sentence. "The accused has committed the crime to satisfy his lust and cannot be pardoned under any circumstances," he said, revealing that the accused, a father of three, had the temerity to argue that he was impotent. A fact disproved in a detailed medical examination, the judge said. "The manner in which the accused raped and later killed the child is so heinous, that if the court did not deliver a death sentence, it could have severe repercussions on the judicial system," Pavshe added. Giving details of the case to reporters, additional public prosecutor S B Kale said Alhat lured Hemalata to a nearby hill in Junnar on the pretext of collecting firewood on the morning of January 14, 2002. Three witnesses had seen the victim walk towards the hillside with the accused, Kale said, adding that Alhat first raped the girl and then stabbed her 21 times, before strangulating her to death.