P&H High Court Commutes Death Sentence In Child's Rape-Murder Case, Awards 50 Yr Imprisonment & ₹75 Lakh Fine

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that though the conviction for rape and murder of a minor under the POCSO Act and IPC was fully established, the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category, warranting the death penalty. The Court observed that a sentence of 50 years' actual imprisonment without remission would adequately balance the gravity of the offence with settled sentencing principles.A division bench of Justices Anoop Chitkara and Sukhvinder Kaur was hearing a death reference along with an appeal filed by the convict Sonu Singh challenging his conviction and sentence awarded by the Trial Court. The prosecution's case was that on 28 December 2023, the accused took a 4-year-old girl from her grandfather's tea stall in Ludhiana, sexually assaulted her, strangulated her, and concealed her body in a bed box in a house where he had been residing. The Trial Court had convicted the accused under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 302 IPC and imposed the death penalty, which was placed for confirmation before the High Court. The High Court, upon reappreciation of evidence, found that the testimony of the victim's grandfather reliably established that the accused had taken the child away. The Court held that the recovery of the body from the premises where the accused was staying, coupled with his failure to explain the circumstances, formed a strong incriminating link. It further relied on the DNA report confirming that the genetic material recovered from the victim matched that of the accused, thereby conclusively connecting him to the offence.On sentencing, the Court examined the principles governing the imposition of capital punishment, observing that it is one of those rare cases where the line that separates the categories of the “Rarest of Rare” from “Rare” is on the razor's edge. Pointing out the various lacunae in the evidence, the Court observed that though the lacunae do not create contradictions or dent the prosecution's case, they would nonetheless be additional grounds for not imposing an irreversible sentence.“The convict's life should not be taken away by the judicial process, and instead, to save the children and females, he can be incapacitated by imposing an appropriate sentence that is also proportionate to the heinous and gruesome crime of raping and killing a girl aged 4 years and 7 months,” the Court observed. The Court further held that a fixed term of imprisonment without remission would ensure proportionate punishment while avoiding the irreversible penalty of death. It observed:“… when the Court opts not to impose capital punishment… the just deserts for every adult rapist and murderer of a child under five years of age would be that such a convict must not be released from prison unless he has served at least fifty years of actual imprisonment without remission.”Accordingly, the High Court upheld the conviction of the accused but commuted the death sentence to rigorous imprisonment for 50 years without remission, alongside a fine of Rs. 75,00,000/-.Case Title: State of Punjab v. Sonu Singh [MRC-2-2025 & CRA-D-658-2025]Click Here To Read/Download Order

P&H High Court Commutes Death Sentence In Child's Rape-Murder Case, Awards 50 Yr Imprisonment & ₹75 Lakh Fine

Saksham Vaishya

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