The Bombay High Court on Thursday, November 5, reduced the sentence awarded to Jitendra Rana, the key convict in the 2011 Keenan-Reuben murder case, from life imprisonment to 20 years in jail, while upholding his murder conviction.

Source: Bar and Bench

A Bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and Sandesh Patil also acquitted two other convicts, Sunil Omprakash and Deepak Ishwar, of the murder charge, while maintaining their conviction for other charges, Bar and Bench reported. Law Trend reported that Rana's modified term of 20 years is to be served without remission.

Source: Law Trend

The Court delivered the verdict on the appeals filed by the three convicts against a special court verdict. One of the convicts, Satish Nafeshing Dulgaj, had died during the pendency of the appeal. A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

The 2011 Andheri killings

The four men were convicted for the 2011 murders of Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez in Mumbai's Andheri area. A special women's court in 2016 sentenced them to life imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives; during the trial, the court found four guilty of murder, with two additionally convicted of molestation.

The incident took place on October 20, 2011, and sparked widespread outrage. Keenan (24), Reuben (29) and five others were leaving a restaurant in Andheri around 10:30 pm when the accused made lewd comments and inappropriately touched one of their female friends. After Keenan confronted them, the men left but warned they would return; within 15 minutes they returned armed with knives, according to Bar and Bench's account of the case. Keenan was stabbed multiple times and died the same night, while Reuben succumbed to his injuries on October 31, 2011.

At the time of the 2016 sentencing, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had stated that the young men had lost their lives to a heinous crime while protecting their friends. Fifteen years after the killings, Thursday's ruling re-draws the liability of the surviving convicts: Rana remains convicted of murder with a fixed 20-year term, while the murder convictions of the other two appellants have been set aside.