MUMBAI: Deeming the “unprovoked and unjustified” elimination of an entire family of six as extremely grotesque, revolting, barbaric, savage and cold-blooded, a sessions court on Friday sentenced 48-year-old J&K native Parvez Tak to death for the 2011 murders of his live-in partner, Shelina Patel, her four children, including actor Laila Khan, and a niece.
“The act of the accused has resulted in eliminating the whole family of the deceased Shelina Patel. The act is without justification or provocation. The murders certainly involved exceptional depravity on the part of the accused. The act of the accused is not only barbaric but also inhuman of the highest degree. The offence has certainly shocked the collective conscience of the society. Therefore, in my view, the case falls in the category of rarest-of-rare cases,” Judge Sachin Balvant Pawar said.In a 250-odd-page judgment, the sessions court observed that while the motive was not clearly established, the fact that the victims were last seen alive in Tak’s company a day before their murder was clinching evidence to draw inference that he was involved in the offence.
Commencing the judgment, the judge said this case showcases a totally barbaric act of a human being in modern civilised society. “…keeping in mind the magnitude and enormity of the crime as well as the ghastly nature of the offence, in my opinion, the accused is liable to suffer the maximum punishment… as imposition of life imprisonment would not be the adequate punishment to subserve the cause of justice… I come to the conclusion that the accused deserves to be awarded the death penalty,” the judge concluded.
On May 9, the judge had found Tak guilty of murder and destruction of evidence and adjourned the matter for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence. The six bodies were discovered a year after the murder buried in a pit at their Igatpuri farmhouse. The case came to be filed after Laila, her mother Shelina, siblings Azmina, Imran and Zara, and cousin, Reshma Khan, went missing from Mumbai in Feb 2011, after which her biological father Nadir Shah Patel filed a missing complaint with Oshiwara police. The 41 witnesses were examined by Ujjwal Nikam, BJP’s Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha nominee, who resigned as special public prosecutor from the case just a few days before the verdict was pronounced.
Accepting newly appointed public prosecutor Pankaj Chavan’s submissions that the case fell into the “rarest of rare” category, an essential component to award the death sentence, the judge also said that Tak stayed with the victims as a family member for a considerable period and was in a position of dominance and trust. “He has committed the offence by taking disadvantage of the said position. It is certainly one of the aggravating circumstances,” the judge said.
The judge further said the execution of the act indicates that these were cold-blooded murders, after commission of which the accused cold-heartedly and meticulously planned screening of evidence, which remained unnoticed for almost 17 months.
“The act of the accused has resulted in eliminating the whole family of the deceased Shelina Patel. The act is without justification or provocation. The murders certainly involved exceptional depravity on the part of the accused. The act of the accused is not only barbaric but also inhuman of the highest degree. The offence has certainly shocked the collective conscience of the society. Therefore, in my view, the case falls in the category of rarest-of-rare cases,” Judge Sachin Balvant Pawar said.In a 250-odd-page judgment, the sessions court observed that while the motive was not clearly established, the fact that the victims were last seen alive in Tak’s company a day before their murder was clinching evidence to draw inference that he was involved in the offence.
Commencing the judgment, the judge said this case showcases a totally barbaric act of a human being in modern civilised society. “…keeping in mind the magnitude and enormity of the crime as well as the ghastly nature of the offence, in my opinion, the accused is liable to suffer the maximum punishment… as imposition of life imprisonment would not be the adequate punishment to subserve the cause of justice… I come to the conclusion that the accused deserves to be awarded the death penalty,” the judge concluded.
On May 9, the judge had found Tak guilty of murder and destruction of evidence and adjourned the matter for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence. The six bodies were discovered a year after the murder buried in a pit at their Igatpuri farmhouse. The case came to be filed after Laila, her mother Shelina, siblings Azmina, Imran and Zara, and cousin, Reshma Khan, went missing from Mumbai in Feb 2011, after which her biological father Nadir Shah Patel filed a missing complaint with Oshiwara police. The 41 witnesses were examined by Ujjwal Nikam, BJP’s Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha nominee, who resigned as special public prosecutor from the case just a few days before the verdict was pronounced.
Accepting newly appointed public prosecutor Pankaj Chavan’s submissions that the case fell into the “rarest of rare” category, an essential component to award the death sentence, the judge also said that Tak stayed with the victims as a family member for a considerable period and was in a position of dominance and trust. “He has committed the offence by taking disadvantage of the said position. It is certainly one of the aggravating circumstances,” the judge said.
The judge further said the execution of the act indicates that these were cold-blooded murders, after commission of which the accused cold-heartedly and meticulously planned screening of evidence, which remained unnoticed for almost 17 months.
