'He Was Kind Enough To Leave Rape Victim Alive' Remark Was Inadvertent Mistake: Madhya Pradesh High Court, Modifies Judgment After Criticism

A week after Madhya Pradesh High Court came under criticism for saying that the rape convict was "kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive" in the order reducing his life imprisonment to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years, the division bench headed by Justice Subodh Abhyankar has modified the judgment dated October 18.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the issue, the court in the order dated October 27 said:

"It is brought to the notice of this court that certain inadvertent mistake has crept in the judgment delivered by this court on 18.10.2022, wherein the word "Kind" has been used to referto the appellant who stands convicted of rape".

The division bench of Justice Abhyankar and Justice Satyendra Kumar Singh said it is "apparent" that the "mistake" is "obviously inadvertent" in the context as the court had already held the act of appellant as "demonic".

The court has now modified the sentence "however, considering the fact that he was kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive ..." to "however, considering the fact that he did not cause any other physical injury to the victim ...".

"In view of the same, para 12 the judgement dated 18.10.2022 is hereby modified/corrected to the extent as aforesaid only. Thus, para 12 of the judgment dated 18.102022 shall stand replaced with the aforesaid modified para 12. This order be read conjointly with the order dated 18.10.2022," the bench said in the modification order.

The appellant was convicted in 2009 under Section376(2)(F) IPC for raping  a 4-year-old girl in 2007. While deciding the convict's appeal, the division bench in the judgment, which stands modified now, had said:

"In such circumstances, this Court does not find any error in appreciation of evidence by the trial Court and considering the demonic act of the appellant who appears to have no respect for the dignity of a woman and has the propensity to commit sexual offence even with a girl child aged 4 years, this Court does not find it to be a fit case where the sentence can be reduced to the sentence already undergone by him, however, considering the fact that he was kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive, this court is of the opinion that the life imprisonment can be reduced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment. Accordingly, the criminal appeal is partly allowed and the appellant be made to suffer the period of 20 years in accordance with law."

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