The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence of a man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 45 times [The State of West Bengal v Susanta Chowdhury]. .A Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi observed that the convict Susanta Chowdhury is not beyond reformation and turned his death penalty into a life sentence. It further said that the murder does not fall in the rarest of rare category of cases. “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 Bench ruled. .The Court was dealing with a death reference and Chowdhury’s appeal against his conviction. Chowdhury was arrested by the police in May 2022 for the murder of his 21-year-old girlfriend when she was coming back from a movie. The two had met at a coaching centre and were in a relationship for a brief period. Later, the victim and her family accused Chowdhury of harassing her, and he was told not to contact the girl or her family. Chowdhury accosted the victim near her hostel and, according to witness testimonies, kept hacking her even when there was no resistance. He also bought a toy gun to ward off any onlookers who tried to save the victim. .After considering the case, the High Court noted that Chowdhury does not have any prior criminal record, and the prosecution could not establish that the murder was committed to create a fear psychosis in the public at large. “Similarly, so far as the criminal test or the mitigating circumstances are concerned, we are not in a position to arrive at a finding that it is 0% as against the appellant. Age of the appellant is in favour of the appellant. The nature of crime cannot be classified as rarest of rare cases,” the Court added. .Senior Advocate Kallol Mondal along with Advocates Krishan Ray and Anamitra Banerjee appeared for Susanta Chowdhury. The State was represented through Public Prosecutor (PP) Debashish Roy as well as Advocates Amita Gaur and Shaila Afrin. .[Read Judgement]
