SC sets aside death penalty, awards 25-year jail without remission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the death sentence imposed on a convict in a sexual assault and murder case of a four-year-old minor boy in 2016, and substituted it with a 25-year jail term without remission.

Holding the crime was diabolical, a bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan, took note of the mitigating circumstanc-es and observed it was not a case where the possibility of reformation was completely ruled out. The case does not fall in the rarest of rare category, the bench said. “Having regard to the nature of the offence, a sentence of imprisonment for a pre-scribed period without remission would alone be proportionate to the crime and also not jeopardise the public confidence in the efficacy of the legal sys-tem,” it said, “a sentence of imprisonment for a period of 25 years without re-mission would be a just dessert”.

The apex court delivered its judgement on an appeal filed by convict Sam-bhubhai Raisangbhai Padhiyar challenging the Gujarat High Court’s April 2019 verdict. The high court had confirmed the conviction and death sentence im-posed on him by a trial court for the offences punishable under various sec-tions of the IPC, including murder besides the Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. According to the prosecution, Padhiyar kidnapped the four-year-old boy, sexual assaulted and murdered him in April, 2016, in Gujarat’s Bharuch district.

“Without doubt, the crime committed by the appellant was diabolic in charac-ter. He enticed the innocent child by tempting him with ice-cream and brutally sodomised and murdered the four-year old. The appellant also mercilessly strangulated the deceased,” the top court said.

The mitigation investigation report filed before the apex court showed the ap-pellant was 24-years of age at the time of incident, no criminal antecedents and hailed from a low socio-economic household. The bench said the report from the superintendent of Vadodara Jail indicated the appellant’s behaviour in prison was completely normal and his conduct was good. It further said the report from a mental health hospital indicated the appellant had no psychiatric problem at present.

“Considering the overall facts and circumstances, we hold that the present is not a case where it can be said that the possibility of reformation is completely ruled out. The option of life imprisonment is also not foreclosed,” the bench said. It said though the case of the appellant fell short of the rarest of rare cat-egory, considering the nature of the crime, the court “strongly” felt a sentence of life imprisonment -- normally working out for 14 years -- would be grossly disproportionate and inadequate. The top court’s verdict noted the prosecu-tion’s case alleging the child was playing near his house when the accused took himon the pretext of getting him ice-cream, and later his mortal remains were found near bushes.