Not 'Rarest Of Rare' Case: Calcutta High Court Commutes Death Sentence Of Man Who Murdered Ex-Girlfriend By Stabbing Her 45 Times

The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man accused who had been accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 45 times. The convict was sentenced to life imprisonment instead.A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi held that the crime did not fall into the rarest of rare category to sustain a death penalty, and that the convict was not beyond reformation. It held: Taking into consideration the entire facts and circumstances of the present case including the ratio of the authorities relating to death penalty as also sentence of life imprisonment without remission, in our view, interest of justice would be subserved by commuting the death penalty to one of life imprisonment without the possibility of remission for another 40 years from the date of arrest of the appellant. The appellant shall also pay a fine of Rs. 50,000/-, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for five years more for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The case at hand involved an appeal by the convict against his conviction and subsequent death sentence. Susanta Chowdhury was arrested in 2022 for murdering his former girlfriend in a fit of rage due to a failed relationship, by stabbing her 45 times.Upon going through the witness statements, the court noted that the crime had been committed due to animosity between the accused and victim and that the appellant had been threatening the victim due to the fact that she had entered into a new relationship.The appellant did not let go of the victim despite the victim trying to defend herself and suffering defence wounds, falling to the ground and suffering further wounds and, persons present at the place of occurrence trying to intervene to save the victim from the appellant, the court noted. However, it held that when considering the question of the death penalty, it could not be proved that the crime was committed by the appellant to create a fear psychosis in the minds of women at large.Thus, in finding that there were no aggravating factors, the court commuted the death sentence.Click here to read order

Not 'Rarest Of Rare' Case: Calcutta High Court Commutes Death Sentence Of Man Who Murdered Ex-Girlfriend By Stabbing Her 45 Times

Srinjoy Das

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