Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has modified death penalty to life imprisonment without remission for “minimum” 25 years to four persons, convicted for their involvement in the gruesome rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Handwara area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district in 2007.
The trial court, Pricipal District & Session’s Judge Kupwara, in 2015 had pronounced death penalty to the four persons— Mohammad Sadiq Mir alias Sada of Langate Kupwara, Jehangir Ansari of Nawada Jungoo area of West Bengal, Azhar Ahmad Mir alias Billaof Shatapora Langate and Suresh Kumar Sasi alias Mouchiof Rajasthan, at present Amritsar Punjab—after holding them guilty for the rape and murder of the minor girl.
“…we are inclined to modify the sentence of death imposed by the trial Court on the appellants (four convicts) for commission of offence punishable under Section 302 RPC and instead sentence the appellants to imprisonment for life without remission for at least 25 years i.e. they shall not be released for any reason, whatsoever, before serving the minimum sentence of twenty-five years,” a division bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice M.A.Chowdhary said.
“Rest of the sentences imposed by the trial Court shall remain intact and those of imprisonment would run concurrently with imprisonment for life,” the court said, adding, “Trial Court shall issue warrant for execution of sentences, in terms of this judgment.”
Besides awarding death penalty for commission of offense under RPC section (now repealed) of 302/34, the convicts were sentenced to simple imprisonment of one month for offence under Section 341/34 RPC and rigorous imprisonment of seven years and ten years for offences punishable under Section 363/34 RPC and 376(G)/34 RPC respectively.
According to prosecution, a hapless minor girl was gang raped and killed in orchards near Batapora Wuder on 20 July 2007. The rape was committed upon her when she was on her way from school to her home, the prosecution said. Subsequently, police arrested these four persons and filed chargesheet which culminated into their conviction and awarding of the death penalty in 2015.
“Public opinion is difficult to fit in ‘rarest of the rare’ doctrine. Peoples’ perception of crime is neither an objective circumstance relating to crime nor to the criminal,” the division bench said, adding, “Perception of public is extraneous to conviction as also sentencing according to the Mandate of Bachan Singh (SC verdict).”
Public opinion, the court said, may also run counter to rule of law and constitutionalism. “There is also a danger of capital sentencing becoming a spectacle in the media. And if a media trial is a possibility, sentencing by media cannot be ruled out,” the court said.
The Division Bench said that it was suffice to say that it does not dispute that the crime of rape and murder is always gruesome and abhorrent. However, having regard to the guidelines issued by the Supreme court from time to time and explained in the case of Bachan Singh and Machi Singh, the case does not fall in the definition of ‘rarest of the rare case’.
“…we have not found anything on record to show previous conviction of any of the appellants in the police record. The witnesses have orally referred to registration of some cases for commission of minor offences but the prosecution has not placed on record any documentary evidence to substantiate the aforesaid aspect,” the court said, adding, “…nothing has been brought to our notice by the prosecution from which it could be inferred that convicts are menace to the society. Merely saying so at the time of arguments, is not good enough to believe that there are no chances of appellants’ reformation.”
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