Death sentence for fatal acid attacker in Nurse Preeti Rathi case

Ankur Panwar 25, convicted of murder and other offences at a special court in Mumbai, India, has been sentenced to death, undersections 302 (murder) and 326B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the Indian Penal Code,  for a fatal acid attack on Preeti Rathi 23, at Bandra, a busy railway station three years ago, when she got down from Garib Rath Express. This judgement is being seen as a legal landmark as it is the first such sentence for an acid attack in India as many such attacks go unpunished. Preeti’s father Amar Singh Rathi had sought the death penalty for the accused.

On Thursday, the special court said that the crime fell within the “rarest of rare” category which justified the death penalty.

Preeti Rathi had just arrived Mumbai from Delhi to join the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Ashvini Hospital as a nurse. Her neighbour Ankur Panwar attacked her with acid after she rejected a marriage proposal.

Ms Rathi, who suffered severe injuries to her lungs and eyes in the attack on 2 May 2013, and succumbed to injuries at a private hospital on June 1, 2013. After a month, of her death, India’s Supreme Court ordered federal and state governments to regulate the sale of acid. The court ruled that acid could only be sold to people who showed a valid identity card. According to government figures, there are hundreds of such attacks a year.

Mumbai Police filed a 1332-page charge sheet against Panwar, a hotel management graduate, and also presented a list of 98 witnesses after he was arrested from the national capital in January. AS per charge sheet, Panwar, splashed concentrated sulphuric acid on Preeti at Bandra station, as he envied her career growth.

Ankur’s lawyer Apeksha Vora will appeal in higher court against this verdict.