MP HC Commutes Death Penalty Imposed On Man Convicted For Rape, Murder Of Minor Niece [Read Judgment]

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, has commuted death penalty imposed on a man convicted for rape and murder of a minor girl, who was his niece.

Vinay was convicted by the Trial Court for rape and murder of his niece who was only thirteen-year-old at that time. The prosecution case was that, after committing rape, the accused and his juvenile friends, killed her by hitting her head with a stone, strangulated her and hanged her from the roof with a red coloured saree.

On his appeal, the Division Bench of Justice SK Seth and Justice Anjuli Palo observed that the accused was rightly convicted by the Trial Court and said: The chain of evidence is complete without leaving any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the appellant and show that in all human probability the act must have been done by the appellant only.

The Bench, however observed that, it would be appropriate to impose the alternative punishment for life, rather than death sentence. The Court also observed that the prosecution has not proved the probability that the conviction cannot be reformed and rehabilitated and the probability that he would continue to commit criminal acts and thereby would pose threat to the society.

We seriously considered the mitigating circumstances in favours of the conviction. The appellant belongs to schedule tribe without criminal antecedents., the Bench said.