MUMBAI: An Indian court sentenced a man to death Thursday for murdering a woman by throwing acid on her face after she rejected his marriage proposal, a decision applauded by the victim’s family.
Ankur Panwar was found guilty on Tuesday of hurling sulphuric acid on 24-year-old Preeti Rathi in a fit of jealousy outside a railway station in the financial capital Mumbai in May 2013.
Rathi, who was a neighbor of Panwar’s in New Delhi and had just arrived in Mumbai to start a new job as a nurse, died in hospital of multiple organ failure the following month.
“The court has awarded the death penalty to Ankur Panwar. I convinced the court that the acid attack belonged to the rarest of rare cases,” public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told AFP.
The Supreme Court says capital punishment should only be carried out in “the rarest of rare” cases in India, among a dwindling group of nations that still have the death penalty on their statute books.
Panwar’s lawyer said they would appeal the verdict — delivered at a special court dealing with crimes against women — to the Bombay High Court, Mumbai’s highest.
“We are moving the case to the high court. There is no second thought about it,” Apeksha Vora told AFP.
Police alleged Panwar, reportedly 26, and a hotel management graduate, had committed the crime out of jealousy after she rejected his marriage proposal and had wanted to disfigure her face to destroy her career.
Nikam successfully argued that Panwar’s attack had been pre-meditated. Vora had pleaded leniency for her client, saying that he was his family’s sole breadwinner.
“We had sought the death penalty since the beginning so the verdict is good. Now, we want it to be carried out without any delay,” Hitesh Rathi, Preeti’s brother, told AFP.
Hundreds of acid attacks occur in India and other nations every year, but experts say these figures are likely to represent only the tip of the iceberg, with scores of survivors facing lifelong scars and social stigma.
Indian court sentences man to death for acid attack murder
Indian court sentences man to death for acid attack murder
Thai army accuses Cambodia of violating truce with over 250 drones
- The Thai army said on Monday “more than 250 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected flying from the Cambodian side, intruding into Thailand’s sovereign territory” on Sunday night, according to a statement
BANGKOK: Thailand’s army accused Cambodia on Monday of violating a newly signed ceasefire agreement, reached after weeks of deadly border clashes, by flying more than 250 drones over its territory.
The Southeast Asian neighbors agreed to the “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, pledging to end renewed border clashes that killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million this month.
But the fresh allegation from Bangkok and its threat to reconsider releasing Cambodian soldiers held by Thailand left a sustained truce in doubt, even as their foreign ministers wrapped up two days of talks hosted by China.
The Thai army said on Monday “more than 250 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected flying from the Cambodian side, intruding into Thailand’s sovereign territory” on Sunday night, according to a statement.
“Such actions constitute provocation and a violation of measures aimed at reducing tensions, which are inconsistent with the Joint Statement agreed” during a bilateral border committee meeting on Saturday, it said.
The reignited fighting this month spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit.
Under the truce pact signed on Saturday, Cambodia and Thailand agreed to cease fire, freeze troop movements and cooperate on demining efforts and combatting cybercrime.
They also agreed to allow civilians living in border areas to return home as soon as possible, while Thailand was to return 18 Cambodian soldiers captured in July within 72 hours, if the ceasefire held.
’Small issue’
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn described the drone incident as “a small issue related to flying drones seen by both sides along the border line.”
He said on Cambodian state television on Monday that the two sides had discussed the issue and agreed to investigate and “resolve it immediately.”
Thai army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said in a statement the drone activity reflected “provocative actions” and a “hostile stance toward Thailand,” which could affect the security of military personnel and civilians in border areas.
Thailand’s army “may need to reconsider its decision regarding the release of 18 Cambodian soldiers, depending on the situation and the behavior observed,” it said.
Several family members of soldiers held by Thailand for six months had little faith they would be released, even before Bangkok raised fresh doubts.
Heng Socheat, the wife of a soldier, told AFP on Monday she worried the Thai military might renege on its pledge.
“Until my husband arrives home, then I will believe them,” she said.
Prayers for peace
Five days of border clashes in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Malaysia, the chair of the ASEAN regional bloc.
Trump witnessed the signing of a follow-on declaration between Thailand and Cambodia in October but it was broken within months, with each side blaming the other for instigating the fresh fighting.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of the 800-kilometer (500-mile) Thai-Cambodian border, where both sides claim centuries-old temple ruins.
While the two nations agreed on Saturday to stop fighting, they still need to resolve the demarcation of their border.
Cambodia, Thailand and China issued a statement at the end of talks in China’s Yunnan province on Monday, saying they had discussed “working step by step through mutual efforts to resume normal exchanges, rebuild political mutual trust, improve Cambodia-Thailand bilateral relations, and safeguard regional stability.”
Cambodia also said on Monday it had called on Thailand to join another bilateral meeting in Cambodia in early January “to discuss and continue survey and demarcation work” at the border.
More than a hundred Buddhist monks and hundreds of others dressed in white shirts met at a war monument on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital on Monday evening to pray for peace with their neighbor.
