HC to hear appeal by Pune bus driver against death penalty

Bombay High Court today said it would from June 25 hear on a day-to-day basis the petitions related to the confirmation of death sentence awarded to Santosh Mane, a former ST driver who mowed down nine persons in a fit of reckless driving on Pune roads in January, 2012.
Every death sentence passed by trial courts has to be confirmed by High Court. High Court would be simultaneously hearing Mane's appeal against his conviction by the trial court.
A division bench of Justices VM Kanade and Pramod Kode today asked defence lawyers whether Mane had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident to which defence lawyer Jaideep Mane replied that the appellant was being treated for a psychological problem at the time.

However, the prosecutor pointed out that the last time Mane was treated for the problem was in 2010, two years prior to the crime.
In September, 2013, High Court had set aside the death penalty awarded to Mane, noting that the trial court had not heard him on the point of sentence. The court remanded the matter back to the trial court, asking it to hear Mane on this point.
The trial court subsequently once again awarded him the death sentence. It reasoned that the crime was of the "rarest of the rare" category as Mane had killed people by running them over with an ST bus, fully conscious of the consequences.

On January 25, 2012, Mane hijacked a state transport bus from Swargate depot in Pune city and went berserk as he drove it around, mowing down whoever came in his path. By the time police chased him down and stopped him, he had left nine people dead and 37 others injured.