Supreme Court commutes death sentence of man convicted for murder, sexual assault of minor boy

The Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence given to a man convicted for the murder and sexually assault of four-year-old boy, and ordered him to undergo rigorous imprisonment of twenty-five years without remission instead [Sambhubhai Raisangbhai Padiyar v. State of Gujarat]..A three-judge Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Aravind Kumar and KV Viswanathan held that that the possibility of the convict's reformation cannot be fully ruled out. In this regard, the Court observed that according to a mental health evaluation, the convict had felt remorse for his crime.The Court also noted that even though the crime committed by the convict was diabolic in character, the case did not fall in the category of 'rarest of rare' to warrant the death penalty. "Without doubt, the crime committed by the appellant was diabolic in character. Considering the overall facts and circumstances, we hold that the present is not a case where it can be said that the possibility of reformation is completely ruled out. The option of life imprisonment is also not foreclosed. The case does not fall in the category of rarest of rare case," the Court said.It, therefore, set aside the death penalty awarded to the convict. .After considering certain additional factors, it also opined that a life imprisonment term - which would practically be around fourteen years of imprisonment under Indian law - was not enough punishment in this case. Therefore, the Court substituted the death penalty with rigorous imprisonment of twenty-five years without remission..The man before the Court had been convicted for the murder and sexual assault of a four-year-old boy, who was found dead in 2016. The child's naked corpse was found near a lake behind a Dargah, with injuries indicating that he was subjected to sexual assault. A man who lived in the neighborhood, and who was seen with the child shortly before he went missing, was arrested in the case. He was charged for murder and sexual assault under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as for offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act). A trial court found him guilty of the crime and sentenced him to death. This verdict was upheld by the Gujarat High Court as well, given the heinous nature of the crime.Aggrieved, the convict preferred an appeal before the apex court which upheld the conviction after examining the evidence on record. The Supreme Court held that there was sufficient and complete circumstantial evidence to prove that the appellant was guilty of the crime. .However, the Court decided to commute the convict's death penalty after factoring in that the he was only twenty-four years when the incident took place, and that he had no criminal antecedents. The Bench also noted that he came from a poor socio-economic background and depicted moderate level psychotic features and had an intellectual disability. A mental health report, however, indicated that he did not suffer from any psychiatric problems at present. The Court proceeded to observe that a sentence of life imprisonment - which usually lasts for around fourteen years under Indian law before a prisoner is eligible for remission - was grossly inadequate to punish the convict.Therefore, it has ordered that the convict undergo twenty-five years of imprisonment without remission as punishment instead. "Even though the case of the appellant falls short of the rarest of rare category, considering the nature of the crime, we are strongly of the view that a sentence of life imprisonment which normally works out for 14 years would be grossly disproportionate and inadequate. Having regard to the nature of the offence, a sentence of imprisonment for a prescribed period without remission would alone be proportionate to the crime and also not jeopardize the public confidence in the efficacy of the legal system," the Court said. .Senior Advocate Uttara Babbar appeared for the appellant-convict.Advocate Swati Ghildiyal appeared for the State of Gujarat..[Read Judgment]