Bombay HC Reduces Convict’s Death Penalty To Life Imprisonment

Sachin Waze

The Bombay High Court has recently upheld the conviction of Deepak Jhat for the 2017 murders of a teenage girl and a 2-year-old child, whom he set on fire.

However, the court commuted his death penalty to life imprisonment, stating that the case does not qualify as one of the “rarest of rare” circumstances.

A division bench, consisting of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Shyam Chandak, confirmed Jhat’s conviction but deemed the death penalty excessive. “We have held that the case does not fall under the category of rarest of rare.

The penalty of death is not the only penalty that can be imposed in this case,” the bench stated.

In 2023, a sessions court had sentenced Jhat to death, classifying the crime as particularly heinous. According to the prosecution, in April 2017, Jhat poured a flammable liquid on the two girls, aged 2 and 17, before igniting them in the Bandra area, leading to their deaths from severe burn injuries.

Jhat’s defense argued that he was provoked by the girls’ remarks, claiming they called him derogatory names such as “hijda” & “chakka” (transgender terms). Despite this claim, the court emphasized the brutality of the crime while adjusting the sentence.