AHMEDABAD: The state government has approached the Gujarat high court seeking confirmation of the death sentence awarded to Surat’s youth Fenil Goyani by a trial court for killing 21-year-old college student Grishma Vekariya in February.
This is the 46th case of death penalty awarded by Gujarat’s trial courts in seven different cases in more than four months where the Gujarat government has sought confirmation of maximum penalty by the high court.
Provisions of law mandate the state government to seek nod from the high court and without the HC’s confirmation of death penalty, execution cannot be carried out.
On May 5, a sessions court in Surat sentenced stalker Goyani to death after treating his murder as a "rarest of the rare" case.
Goyani was punished for slitting the throat of Vekariya, a resident of Kamrej, in front of her family members and neighbours on February 12.
Goyani was upset after Vekariya refused to be in a relationship with him.
He had also stabbed Vekariya's brother and uncle when they tried to rescue her and later injured himself with the same knife.
The police took him to a hospital in Kamrej and arrested him on February 16 after his treatment.
The police had filed a 2,500-page charge sheet within a week of the incident, and later also submitted 120 documentary pieces of evidence to strengthen the case.
Many onlookers had captured the entire incident on their smartphones. The video clips and the eyewitness accounts of 25 people proved as crucial pieces of evidence for the prosecution.
