Rape & Murder Of 4 Year Old Girl : Supreme Court Dismisses Mother's Plea To Review Its Judgment Commuting Death Sentence Of Convict

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by a mother seeking review of its Judgment commuting the death sentence awarded to a man convicted for the rape and murder of her four-year-old daughter.

The court said that the commutation of sentence of death to that of life imprisonment was done by it after bestowing attention to the relevant factors.

The bench comprising Justices Uday Umesh Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi also refused to entertain a review petition filed in this matter by an organization namely Bharatiya Stree Shakti.

The Trial Court had awarded death sentence to the accused Firoz for the offence under section 302 of IPC and directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 07 years and pay fine of Rs. 2000/- for the offence under section 363, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and pay fine of Rs. 2000/- for the offence under section 366 of IPC, to undergo life imprisonment and pay fine of Rs. 2000/- for the offences under sections 376(2)(i), 376(2)(m) of IPC and under sections 5(i)r/w 6 & 5(m) r/w 6 of POCSO Act. The High Court dismissed his appeal and confirmed the death sentence.

In appeal, the bench confirmed the conviction and but commuted the sentence of death for the sentence of imprisonment for life, for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. In this context, the bench remarked: "We are reminded of what Oscar Wilde has said - "The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future".

In the review petition filed by the mother of the victim, it was contended that the Apex Court overlooked that the Sentencing Policy also needs to consider the deterrent effect and that the punishments before all things, must be befitting the nature of crime and deterrent with an explicit aim to make an example out of the evil-doer and a warning to those who are still innocent.

While considering this review petition, the bench said  that , after considering the landmark decisions of this Court in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980 (2) SCC 684) and Machi Singh and Others v. State of Punjab (1983 (3) SCC 470), it did not deem it appropriate to sustain the sentence of death awarded under Section 302 of the IPC.

"As the discussion in Paragraph 40 and 41 indicates, the legislative policy under Sections 354 (3) and 235 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was noted and the commutation as aforesaid was directed. As the record indicates, even after conclusion of hearing, certain material from the Probation Officer and Director General of Prison, Trained Psychiatrist were also called so that the matter pertaining to sentence to be awarded could be considered. Thus, the commutation of sentence of death to that of life imprisonment was done by the Court after bestowing attention to the relevant factors.", the bench observed while dismissing the review petition.