PANAJI
Eight years after the Children’s Court acquitted Girishma Talwar in the 2009 murder of a minor girl, the State government has moved the High Court of Bombay at Goa contesting the order.
The petition also seeks to enhance the punishment of life convicts Chandrakant Talwar and Cyron Fernandes to the death penalty for their involvement in the heinous crime.
Chandrakant and Cyron were convicted and sentenced in connection with the minor’s murder, whose body was found at the Verna plateau on 12 October 2009.
In the same month, the police arrested a gang of four, including a minor girl and Girishma, wife of Chandrakant, for allegedly murdering four women over three days.
In August 2016, the District and Sessions Judge sentenced the two men to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of Sharmila Mandrekar, whose decomposed body was found in Succoro village. However, they were acquitted in another case involving the half-burnt body of fisherwoman Concessao D’Souza, found near Merces, due to insufficient evidence. Girishma was acquitted in both cases.
The men were also charged with the murder of another woman, Malati Yadav, whose body was found at Khorjuvem village.
According to the police charge sheet, the gang abducted women and stole their jewellery before killing them. In the murders of Mandrekar and the minor girl, Talwar also allegedly raped the victims.
