Punjab and Haryana High Court confirms death penalty for child’s rape, murder

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the death penalty awarded to a man convicted of the rape and murder of a girl child. Describing the crime as “gruesome”, exemplifying “dehumanised, monster-like conduct”, the division bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma confirmed the trial court’s judgment, while rejecting the convict’s appeal against both conviction and sentence.

The bench agreed with the trial court that the case fell within the “rarest of rare” category, warranting capital punishment. “Evidently, the instant case appertains to the gruesome murder of a girl child but after committing rape upon her. It exemplifies dehumanised, besides monster-like conduct of the convict-appellant,” the court observed while concurring with the trial court’s decision.

The judgment arose from a reference made by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Special Court (POCSO Act), Gurugram, seeking confirmation of the death penalty imposed on the convict.  The FIR in the matter was registered after Sector-65 police station in Gurugram was telephonically informed by the control room on November 12, 2018, that a “small girl’s” body lying in vacant shops.

The bench dismissed the neighbour-convict’s appeal, rejecting his counsel’s argument that the case did not merit the death penalty and could be mitigated with life imprisonment. The court directed the District Magistrate to appoint an executioner and schedule the implementation of the death sentence following the statutory appeal period.

The trial court had earlier sentenced the convict to death and imposed Rs 25,000 fine, which was to be paid to the victim’s father. Additionally, the victim’s dependents were awarded Rs 10 lakh compensation to be equally shared between her parents. The amount was to be disbursed from the Women Victims Compensation Fund.

The bench agreed with the trial court’s reasoning. Among other things, the bench observed that the testimonies of the witnesses were corroborated by CCTV footage obtained by the investigating officer and stored in a pen drive. The footage clearly showed the accused taking the victim along with him on the day of the incident.

The bench observed that the convict, in his signed disclosure statement, confessed to committing rape and detailed the manner in which the crime was executed, including the injuries inflicted on the victim. The court observed only the accused had knowledge of the location where the weapons used in the crime were concealed, which were subsequently recovered based on his disclosure.

The bench asserted that the trial court’s findings were “well made”. “Through all the links, the charge drawn against the accused becomes proven to the hilt,” the bench asserted, while confirming the death sentence imposed upon the convict-appellant by the convicting court.