In a rare move, Rehan Qureshi, accused of serial rape, paedophelia and murder, moves Bombay High Court to club and transfer cases all over Maharashtra to one special court
Accused Rehan Qureshi
The serial child rape and murder accused Rehan Qureshi has moved the Bombay High Court, through his legal counsel, for clubbing all the 21 cases against him. A writ petition for all cases to be heard in one special court was filed a week ago by his lawyer.
Six charge sheets have so far been filed against Qureshi at Thane's Session Court by the Navi Mumbai police. The public prosecutor in the matter has said that the trial in these cases is likely to conclude in a couple of months.
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The writ petition filed by advocate Adil Khatri is being studied by the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. Qureshi has been accused of raping and killing minor girls, and is currently housed at the Taloja Central prison with a total of 21 cases registered against him. "Clubbing the cases will make it easier for us to fight them, as also enable a fair trial," Khatri explained the reason behind the move.
Special public prosecutor Sangita Fad, who has been fighting the case, too welcomed the move. "It will be great if all cases are heard in one court. It will prevent duplication. The Navi Mumbai Police have done a great job with the evidence in the case. In 80 per cent of the cases, the DNA examination has pointed towards the accused. Apart from the main witnesses, there are enough individual witnesses too. In the rape and murder case of Nehru Nagar, Kurla, a charge sheet is yet to be filed. But all the Navi Mumbai cases will conclude within the next two months," Fad said.
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Capital punishment sought
The parents of the survivors have demanded capital punishment for the accused. "My child identified the accused and took a week to overcome the trauma of the identification parade. He has to pay for each day that she has spent crying. We have already demanded capital punishment and it will be granted," said the father of the minor in the Kopar Khairane rape case.
Qureshi is accused of abusing more than 20 children across Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar since 2015, and raping and murdering two children in Nehru Nagar in 2010. The rape-murder cases had rocked the Kurla locality eight years ago but remained unsolved until October last year, when DNA examination in one of the Navi Mumbai cases pointed towards Qureshi's involvement in the Kurla cases too. In September last year, the accused had confessed to having raped so many children that he had lost count.
Also Read: Mumbai: Paedophile rapist admits to abusing more girls than he can remember
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