Gopal Shete

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	7 years
Years Imprisoned:	6.25
Year Crime:	2008
Year Convicted:	2009
Year Cleared:	2015
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	India
County or Region of Crime:	Maharashtra
City of Crime:	Ghatkopar
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Gopal Shete was wrongly convicted on July 29, 2009 of raping a mentally challenged girl in December 2008 at the railway station in Ghatkopar, India, outside of Mumbai. Shete was 32, and the married father of two young daughters, and worked in a management position in a hotel. The victim told the police that her assailant said his name was "Gopi." Shete's first name "Gopal," was similar, so they assumed he was the assailant, although the victim did not identify him as her attacker. There was no physical, forensic, or eyewitness evidence -- other than the similarity of his first name to the victim's assailant -- linking him to the crime, or even being in the vicinity of the railway station at the time of the crime. Shete's alibi defense was he was he was with his family at the time time of the crime. Shete could not afford to pay his bail, so he was in custody while awaiting trial. After his conviction, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Shete appealed his conviction. Shete was given 9 months off his sentence for his good behavior, and he was released in March 2015 after six years and three months in custody. Three months later, on June 10, 2015, the Bombay High Court set-aside Shete's conviction and acquitted him based on the insufficiency of the prosecution's unreliable evidence the trial court relied on to convict him. The court's ruling by Justice Abhay Thipsay stated: "In my opinion, this was a case where the identity of the appellant as the culprit had not been satisfactorily established. In my opinion, there was indeed a real and substantial doubt about the identity of the appellant as the culprit." While imprisoned Shete's wife divorced him and remarried, his two daughters were forced to live in an orphanage, and his father passed away. At the time of his arrest Shete was making the comfortable salary of Rs50,000 (US$750) a month. After his exoneration Shete filed a claim for compensation with the High Court, and he requested interim compensation because he was destitute. In February 2016 the High Court accepted Shete's petition, and reserved a ruling pending the government's response. Frustrated at inaction on his petition, in July 2016 Shete wrote letters to the Bombay High Court, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Governor of the State of Maharashtra, India's President, the ministry of Home affairs and India's Chief Minister. Shete's letter stated: "I was falsely implicated and I want compensation, otherwise I am going to end this life. So, if the court cannot give me justice, they better give me permission to end my life.""
Conviction Caused By:	Unreliable assumption by the police that Shete was the assailant.
Innocence Proved By:	"On June 10, 2015, the Bombay High Court set-aside Shete's conviction and acquitted him based on the insufficiency of the prosecution's unreliable evidence the trial court relied on to convict him. The court's ruling by Justice Abhay Thipsay stated: "In my opinion, this was a case where the identity of the appellant as the culprit had not been satisfactorily established. In my opinion, there was indeed a real and substantial doubt about the identity of the appellant as the culprit.""
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	32
Age When Released:	39
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Other
Information Source 1:	"After 7 yrs in jail for rape he didn’t commit, man wants to end his life, By Alka Dhupkar (Staff), Mumbai Mirror, July 27, 2016"
Information Location 1:	http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/After-7-yrs-in-jail-for-rape-he-didnt-commit-man-wants-to-end-his-life/articleshow/53409464.cms
Information Source 2:	"Youth spends 6 year in Jail now seeks 100 cr as compensation, By Ravikant Kamble, Nagpur Today (Nagpur, India), February 23, 2016"
Information Location 2:	http://www.nagpurtoday.in/youth-spends-6-year-in-jail-now-seeks-100-cr-as-compensation/02231600
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Gopal Shete

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

7 years

Years Imprisoned:

6.25

Year Crime:

2008

Year Convicted:

2009

Year Cleared:

2015

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

India

County or Region of Crime:

Maharashtra

City of Crime:

Ghatkopar

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Unreliable assumption by the police that Shete was the assailant.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

32

Age When Released:

39

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Other

Information Source 1:

"After 7 yrs in jail for rape he didn’t commit, man wants to end his life, By Alka Dhupkar (Staff), Mumbai Mirror, July 27, 2016"

Information Location 1:

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/After-7-yrs-in-jail-for-rape-he-didnt-commit-man-wants-to-end-his-life/articleshow/53409464.cms

Information Source 2:

"Youth spends 6 year in Jail now seeks 100 cr as compensation, By Ravikant Kamble, Nagpur Today (Nagpur, India), February 23, 2016"

Information Location 2:

http://www.nagpurtoday.in/youth-spends-6-year-in-jail-now-seeks-100-cr-as-compensation/02231600

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