Rape & Murder Of 7-Yr-Old Girl: Allahabad HC Upholds Death Penalty [Read Judgment]

Sentence of death is eminently desirable not only to deter others from committing such atrocious crimes but also to give emphatic expression to society's abhorrence of such crime, the bench said.

The Allahabad High Court has upheld the death penalty imposed on a man convicted for rape and murder of 7-year-old girl.

The division bench of Justice Shashi Kant Gupta and Justice Prabhat Chandra Tripathi observed that sentence of death is eminently desirable not only to deter others from committing such atrocious crimes, but also to give emphatic expression to society's abhorrence of such crime.

The prosecution case was that accused Pappu allured the 7-year-old girl to provide her lychee as a prelude to his sinister design which resulted in her kidnapping, brutal rape and gruesome murder; which culminated in concealing her dead body near the banks of the river beside the bushes. The sessions court had awarded death penalty to the accused after convicting him.

The sex maniacs are prowling in the society like wild wolves to quench their sinful bodily lust. They leave no stone un-turned. In this evil pursuit, they even do not spare infants and children, the court remarked observing that the beastly act committed by the accused shakes the confidence of society and tears to shred the warp and woof of the social fabric.

With regard to availability of mitigating circumstances to commute the death sentence, the bench observed: “In vain, we have searched for mitigating circumstances-but found aggravating circumstances aplenty.”

The court also said the courts to have a sensitive approach when dealing with cases of child rape as the effect of such a crime on the mind of the child is likely to be lifelong. “Child rape cases are cases of perverse lust for sex where even innocent children are not spared in pursuit of sexual pleasure. It is a crime against humanity. In such cases, responsibility on the shoulders of the courts is more onerous so as to provide proper legal protection to these children. Their physical and mental immobility call for such protection. Children are the natural resource of our country. They are the country's future. Hope of tomorrow rests on them. In our country, a girl child is in a very vulnerable position and one of the modes of her exploitation is rape besides other modes of sexual abuse. These factors point towards a different approach required to be adopted,” the bench added.