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Supreme Court Commutes Death Sentence, Clarifies Rarest Of Rare Doctrine
The Supreme Court reviewed a case involving the sexual assault and killing of a six-year-old girl by her stepfather.
The court agreed that he was guilty of the crimes.
However, it changed his punishment from death to prison for the rest of his natural life.
The court said the crime was extremely serious.
It also said the law requires judges to consider the accused person’s circumstances and chance of changing.
The state had not shown that he could never reform.
The trial court had also failed to properly hear him before deciding the punishment.
The court accepted the girl’s mother’s evidence because it matched medical findings and phone records.
It explained that crimes inside homes may happen secretly, making outside witnesses difficult to find.
The Supreme Court commuted a 56-year-old man’s death sentence to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life.
The man’s convictions for sexually assaulting and murdering his six-year-old stepdaughter were upheld under the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act.
The court cited genuine mitigating circumstances and the state’s failure to exclude the possibility of reformation.
It found that the trial court improperly imposed conviction and death sentencing on the same day without adequately hearing the accused on sentence.
The judgment said the victim’s mother’s testimony was reliable because it was supported by medical evidence and phone records.
- Who
- The Supreme Court of India, a 56-year-old convicted man, and the victim’s mother were central to the case.
- What
- The court upheld the convictions for the sexual assault and murder of a six-year-old stepdaughter but commuted the death sentence to imprisonment for the remainder of the man’s natural life.
- Where
- The case arose in Madhya Pradesh and was heard on appeal from the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
- When
- The Supreme Court delivered its decision on Thursday; the trial court imposed its sentence in December 2018, and further cross-examination was conducted in May 2025.
- Why
- The court found substantial mitigating circumstances, said reformation had not been ruled out, and identified shortcomings in the sentencing procedure.
Supreme Court’s Findings
Appellant’s Position
Guilt and evidence
Supreme Court’s Findings
The court upheld the concurrent findings of the trial court and high court, finding the mother’s account reliable and corroborated by medical evidence and phone records.
Appellant’s Position
The appellant claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
Appropriate punishment
Supreme Court’s Findings
The court held that the crime was exceptionally grave but that genuine mitigating circumstances and the possibility of reformation prevented death from being mandatory.
Appellant’s Position
The appellant challenged the death sentence through his appeal before the Supreme Court.
Trial procedure
Supreme Court’s Findings
The court said the trial court violated the requirement to hear the accused on sentencing after conviction, because it imposed conviction and death sentence on the same day.
Appellant’s Position
The appellant’s appeal led to review of both the conviction and the sentencing process.
Key facts
- Conviction
- Sexual assault and murder under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
- Victim
- A six-year-old girl who was the appellant’s stepdaughter.
- New sentence
- Imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s natural life, without the prospect of release through remission.
- Bench
- Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi.
- Evidence
- The victim’s mother’s testimony was corroborated by objective medical evidence and phone records.
- Sentencing issue
- The trial court convicted and sentenced the appellant to death on the same day without properly hearing him on the question of sentence.
- Relevant doctrine
- The death penalty is reserved for cases where life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed after aggravating and mitigating circumstances are weighed.
Quotes
Supreme Court bench
The three-judge Supreme Court bench hearing the convict’s appeal.
“The crime is of the utmost gravity, and it is marked by an exceptional aggravating feature, but the mitigating circumstances of the appellant are genuine and substantial, the possibility of his reformation has not been excluded by the State upon whom the burden lay.”
rediff.com
“The victim, silenced in life, is not silenced in law, and her voice, reaching the court through her mother and confirmed by the marks upon her body, bears witness to what was done to her.”
rediff.com
Sources
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