Calcutta HC Commutes Death Sentences In Rape-Murder Case Of 5-Yr-Old Girl, Cites Convicts' Socio-Economic Backwardness

The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentence of two men, convicted for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl. It had been alleged that the men had sexually assaulted the girl using a bamboo shaft and later strangled her to death.While noting that the possibility of reformation could not be ruled out, a division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi held: "On the basis of the report of the State and the other materials on record we are also not in a position to say that release of any of the appellants on remission would not be a menace to the society. Merely commuting the death penalty to one of life imprisonment simplicitor would not subserve the ends of justice in the facts and circumstances of the present case particularly given the nature of the offence committed by the appellants. In such circumstances, taking into consideration the respective age of the two appellants their socio economic background and mental health conditions as also the nature of the crime, we deem it appropriate to impose life sentence on both the appellants without the possibility of remission for a period of 60 years from the date of commission of the offence. Accordingly, we commute the death penalty awarded."Senior advocate appearing for the appellants contended that, the incident, even if proved, cannot be classified as the rarest of rare case warranting imposition of death penalty. It was submitted that there are material contradictions with regard to the place and mode of recovery of the dead body.He contended that there are discrepancies as to the place from where the dead body was recovered and that, the same is fatal to the case of the prosecution.Counsel contended that the case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence. The chain of circumstance has not been completed. The case of the prosecution is replete with missing link, uncorroborated recovery and suspiciously tailored testimonies which has failed to meet the test required for a conviction.Counsel claimed that even if the guilt was proved, the mitigating circumstances weigh against the imposition of the death penalty.Public Prosecutor contended that the prosecution was able to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt. He referred to the chain of circumstances proved at the trial. He contended that such chain of circumstances unmistakably establishes the guilt of all three appellants.The father of the victim had lodged a written complaint with the local police stating that the victim went missing on November 4, 2021, at about 10 am from his house. Despite searches, the victim could not be found. In his written complaint, the father of the victim had alleged that Appellant No. 1 had hidden the victim in some secret place.Appellants were arrested and tried for kidnapping, abduction, gang rape, aggravated penetrative sexual assault and murder of a minor, along with a charge of destruction of evidence of the crime.Court noted that the prosecution, therefore, has been able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim was subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault prior to her death by strangulation. Therefore, prosecution has been able to establish that the victim suffered aggravated penetrative sexual assault and was murdered.However, it also held that the death sentence could be commuted in the present case."We find that the option of life imprisonment coupled with non-remittable sentence is not foreclosed in the facts and circumstances of the present case. Socio economic backwardness, the conduct of the convict post custody as also existence of criminal antecedent if any of the convict should be taken into consideration while determining the quantum of sentence to be awarded. Taking these factors into consideration, so far as both the appellants are concerned, we are not in a position to arrive at the finding that, the mitigating circumstances are nil so far as any of the two appellants are concerned," the court noted.Case: The State of West Bengal Vs. Fagun Mandi @ Pui and AnotherCase No: DR 3 of 2023Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Cal) 179Click here to read order

Calcutta HC Commutes Death Sentences In Rape-Murder Case Of 5-Yr-Old Girl, Cites Convicts' Socio-Economic Backwardness

Srinjoy Das

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