Gang Rape Of 8 Year Old Girl: Madhya Pradesh High Court Upholds Death Sentence Awarded To Accused Duo

The Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the death sentence awarded to two men accused of gang rape of an eight year old girl.  

The offence of gang rape in itself is a very heinous offence and to impose further condition of the victim being left in vegetative state for awarding death penalty would be asking for too much, the bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Shailendra Shukla observed.

The court observed that the rights of the victim cannot take a back seat while considering the rights of the accused.

In this case, the accused named Irfan and Asif were convicted and sentenced to death by the Trial Court under 376DB of the Indian Penal Code.

Section 376DB, the provision inserted by Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, provides that 'where a woman under twelve years of age is raped by one or more persons constituting a group or acting in furtherance of a common intention, each of those persons shall be deemed to have committed the offence of rape and shall be punished with imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and with fine, or with death.'

The prosecution case was that they kidnapped the girl from the school. That, later she was found in an injured condition later and the girl told the police that on the day of the incident, after the school was closed down, she was waiting outside the school when a person came and forcibly put some sweet ('Ladu') in her mouth and took her to a secluded spot. That, subsequently, she was undressed, forcibly raped by the person who had taken her while the other person had caught hold of her hands. Later on investigation, the accused were caught and the girl identified them.

Dismissing their appeal, the High Court, on re-appreciating the evidence on record, including the DNA report, held that it is conclusively proven that the prosecutrix who was below 12 years of age at the time of incident was subjected to violent gang rape by the accused.

One of the issues considered by the bench was whether death sentence should have been awarded only when the prosecutrix is left in vegetative state?

"Section 376(A) of IPC provides that death sentence can be awarded when the victim is left in vegetative state. No such mention is there in Section 376(DB) of IPC. The offence of gang rape in itself is a very heinous offence and to impose further condition of the victim being left in vegetative state for awarding death penalty would be asking for too much, which was not the intention of the legislature in any case."

While upholding the death sentence, the bench observed that the accused 'have not shown any remorse, they have acted in a cold blooded manner and have followed their natural routine after committing the ghastly incident, which shows that they were already hardened into such perverts with criminal mindset which was devoid of any emotions or care about small girl child.'

Case: State of M.P. vs. Irfan  ; Criminal Reference No.14/2018

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