MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday partly allowed appeals filed by three convicts challenging their life sentences in the October 2011 Amboli double murder case, in which Keenan Santos (24) and Reuben Fernandez (29) were killed while defending their women friends from eve-teasers. Keenan died soon after the incident on October 20, 2011, while Reuben succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on October 30, 2011.Justices Makarand Karnik and Sandesh Patil upheld the trial court’s May 6, 2016, conviction of Jitendra Rana for murder under Section 302 of the IPC. However, they modified his sentence, reducing it to 20 years without statutory remissions, “considering his age”. They also acquitted Sunil Bhot and Deepak Tival, observing that there was “no material” against them to sustain their convictions under Section 302. Their other sentences, however, have been maintained. A detailed judgment will be uploaded in the evening.The HC verdict came on appeals filed by the four convicts, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the remainder of their lives. On October 20, 2011, Keenan, Reuben and their three women friends had gone to a restaurant in Amboli, Andheri (West). Keenan and Reuben were stabbed near a paan shop during a scuffle that broke out after a group of men began harassing the women.Advocates Sudeep Pasbola and Yug Chaudhry, appearing for the convicts, argued that the alleged molestation had never occurred and that the prosecution had failed to establish the genesis and motive behind the subsequent alleged armed assault. They also argued that it was a free fight involving grave and sudden provocation, bringing the case within an exception to Section 300 of the IPC and taking it out of the ambit of murder.Special public prosecutor Aabad Ponda argued that the prosecution had relied on witness testimonies, forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts to establish that the assault was premeditated. Refuting the defence’s argument that it was a free fight, Ponda said that after one of the accused was slapped, he left the spot while issuing death threats and returned with knives, a cricket stump and a large bamboo stick.The injuries sustained by Keenan included penetrating wounds caused by a sharp weapon, and his death was attributed to haemorrhage resulting from stab injuries, Ponda added.
