Madras HC Upholds Death Penalty to Techie Youth For Rape & Murder of Seven Year Old [Read Judgment]

“If the punishment of an innocent person is a mistake of justice administration, failure to punish a criminal indicates that the absence of justice, which is a worse mistake.”, Justice Dr.S.Vimala observed quoting Immanuel Kant The Madras High Court has upheld death penalty awarded to Daswanth, a 23-year-old techie, for rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in his neighborhood. The dastardly act took place during February 2017. Daswanth is alleged to have committed yet another grievous crime during December 2017, that of murdering his own mother and running away with valuables from house, when he was out on bail in the case. On February 19, 2018, the Sessions Court of Chengalpet held Daswanth guilty for commission of offences under Sections 363, 366, 354-B, 302 and 201 IPC and Sections 8 r/w 7 and 6 r/w 5 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short 'POCSO Act')and awarded him death penalty.The Death Sentence Reference under Section 366 of Code of Criminal Procedure, along with Daswanth’s appeal challenging trial court’s judgment were jointly considered and dismissed by a division bench of Justice Dr. S. Vimala and Justice S. Ramathilagam. Justice Vimala, who authored the main judgment, expressed strong grief and pain at the sufferings of the girl child by beginning the judgment as follows :“Not all scars show; Not all wounds heal; Not all illness can be seen;Not all pain is obvious;Remember this before passing Judgment on another”, so said David Avocado Wolfe. This quote applies not only while judging the accused, but also while judging the plight of the victim, if we take into account, the innocence ignorance and inexpressiveness of child. That is why it is said though “silent” and “listen” are words spelled with the same letters, but for listening to the silent cry of the child, justice would be an impossibility. This is all the more true in the case of child sexual abuse, which itself is a silent crime.The prosecution case was that the victim-girl went missing from her residential building on at 6 PM on February 5, 2017. After frantic search by parents and police, her burnt dead body was found during the dawn of February 8, 2017. The investigation revealed the involvement of Daswanth and he was arrested on the same day. He made an extra-judicial confession to the Village Administrative Officer about the crime.In order to enlarge the probability of the occurrence, the prosecution relied upon the habit of the accused in viewing the obscene sexual videos in the cell phone and submitted that the said act should have been a compelling and impulsive emotion for him to have committed this kind of offence. The examination of the mobile phone of the accused revealed that he was in the habit of browsing obscene videos and storing them.Regarding the relevance of motive, the Court stated, “motive, though maybe an attributing factor, nevertheless, it is not a relevant or a determining factor, which the prosecution needs to establish to take the chain of circumstance forward. The motive only heightens the probability that the offence was committed by the person who was impelled by that motive and if the crime is alleged to have been committed for a particular motive, it is relevant to inquire whether the pattern of the crime fits in with the alleged motive”The Court found that the motive alleged by the prosecution was probable, and that the accused can be presumed to be having the peculiar mental state as per Section 30 of POCSO Act.The Court noted that there was evidence to the effect that Daswanth and the victim was “last seen together”. One of the witnesses, Prosecution Witness No.3, stated that he had seen the accused, his dog and the victim together at about 6.15 PM on February 5. The accused challenged the testimony of PW3 on the ground that he had not mentioned the fact of victim last seen in the company of accused to initial statement given to police. But this argument was rejected by Court, stating that PW3 statement before the Court was clear and categorical, and the same was not impeached in cross examination. “The evidence given before the court alone is the substantive evidence”, the Court said, relying on Mohd. Farooq Abdul Gafur – Vs - State Of Maharashtra (2010 (14) SCC 641) The Court said that the statement of PW3 stood corroborated by following circumstances:- the accused joining with the police for some time in tracing out the victim and thereafter absconding ]he accused making a confession as well as pointing out the place where the burnt dead body was there confession of the accused and based on that the accused showing the place where the occurrence of sexual assault took place and also the recovery of anklet and ear-rings of the deceased from the accused and the purchase of petrol ( for burning the body of victim) using credit card in the bottles and not in the vehicleThe Court also found that the confession made by the accused led to recovery of the dead body ...

Madras HC Upholds Death Penalty to Techie Youth For Rape & Murder of Seven Year Old [Read Judgment]

Manu Sebastian

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