Rajkot man sentenced to life for murder of Dalit woman in 2020
Yuvrajsinh Jadeja was found guilty of outraging the modesty of a Dalit woman. He was also convicted for assaulting 2 other Dalit women who were accompanying the victim.
By: Express News Service
Rajkot | Updated: July 21, 2023 11:04 IST
A special atrocity court at Dhoraji town in Rajkot district on Thursday sentenced a man belonging to the upper caste to life imprisonment for outraging the modesty of a Dalit woman and then murdering her at a village in Dhoraji taluka in 2020.
The court found Yuvrajsinh Jadeja, a Kshatriya, guilty of outraging modesty of a Dalit woman from his village. It also convicted Jadeja of assaulting two other Dalit women who were accompanying the 27-year-old victim.
The court convicted Jadeja under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 345A(1) (sexual harassment of the nature of unwelcome physical contact and advances) of the Indian Penal Code. It further imposed a fine of Rs 12,200 on him.
However, the court acquitted Jadeja of the charge under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, while observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
According to the prosecution, the 27-year-old woman, a mother of two, was intercepted by Jadeja when she was on her way to an agricultural farm to work on May 19, 2020. Jadeja grabbed her hand in a secluded stretch of a track and asked her to accompany him. When two other women, who were accompanying her, intervened, Jadeja hit them with a wooden club that he was wielding. Eventually, he hit the 27-year-old in the head and back, leading to her death.
Additional Public Prosecutor Kartikey Parekh told The Indian Express, “Both women who were eyewitnesses to the murder supported the prosecution’s case and identified the accused. We also drew the court’s attention that the wooden club used to murder the woman was discovered from near the crime scene and that stains of her blood were found on it.”
“Doctors who had assessed the victim when she was rushed to a hospital testified that the wooden club can cause injuries, which can prove fatal. The court agreed with our submissions and convicted the accused,” he added.
Incidentally, Jadeja, too, had allegedly consumed poison after assaulting the Dalit women and had to be hospitalised. However, he survived the alleged suicide bid and was arrested subsequently. “The convict, who is now 32, was in judicial custody through the trial of the case,” Parekh said.
