The Chhattisgarh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a child murderer to life imprisonment. He was found Guilty in the case of kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and murdering a 4-year-old child in 2015.
A bench of Justice Sanjay K Agrawal and Justice Arvind Singh Chandel made this decision after noting that the trial court had delivered the conviction and death sentence on the same day, without providing an effective opportunity to be heard on the question of the sentence.
The Court also observed that there was no evidence to suggest that the appellant was beyond reformation. The trial court had failed to consider the appellant’s potential for rehabilitation and had solely focused on the nature and manner of the crime. Additionally, the reports from the jail where the appellant was incarcerated indicated that his behavior had been good, and he had not committed any further offenses while in custody.
Taking into account that the appellant was a young individual, around 20 years old at the time of the offense, and belonged to a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, the Court opined that there was a possibility of his reformation and rehabilitation. After careful consideration, the Court concluded that the imposition of the death penalty in this case was unjustified.
Thus, the bench decided to commute the appellant’s death sentence to life imprisonment. The Court clarified that the life sentence would entail imprisonment for the remainder of the appellant’s natural life.
The Court made this ruling in response to a reference made to confirm the trial court’s death sentence, as required under Section 366 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Along with the reference, the Court also heard the appeal challenging the appellant’s conviction and death sentence.
The appellant’s counsel argued that the trial court had convicted him without sufficient and conclusive evidence on record. However, the Court dismissed the appeal regarding the appellant’s conviction. The Court confirmed the appellant’s conviction under Sections 363, 376(2)(i), and 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act but commuted his sentence to life imprisonment while maintaining the imposed fine.
