The Hindu : National : Death sentence for rape and murder commuted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 19, 2004

National

National

Death sentence for rape and murder commuted

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 18 . The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence awarded to a convict who raped and killed a four-and-a-half-year-old child in Pune to life imprisonment.

A Bench, consisting of Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justice A. R. Lakshmanan, commuted Rahul alias Rao Saheb's death sentence on Tuesday after his counsel pleaded for showing mercy and leniency since the convict had no criminal background.

Rahul, 24, had in 1999 lured the child into his house and raped her. Later, he killed her by slitting the throat.

A Pune trial court held that this was one of the rarest of the rare cases and awarded the death penalty. The Bombay High Court confirmed the sentence.

The Supreme Court had on June 26 stayed the execution on an appeal and limited the question only with regard to the award of the sentence.

`No motive'

Senior counsel K. Radhakrishnan appearing for the convict said that Rahul had no previous criminal record and was under the influence of liquor. There was no motive for him to commit the offence. It was not a rarest of the rare case. Also, the entire case was based only on circumstantial evidence and there was no evidence that he would be a danger to society if the death penalty was not awarded.

However, counsel for Maharashtra, Mukesh Giri, contended that it was a heinous, diabolic crime and the death sentence should not be interfered with.

The Bench, after appreciating the rival contentions, commuted the sentence to life.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National