Allahabad High Court commutes death sentence of father, son in 19-year old murder case

The Allahabad High Court recently commuted the death sentence awarded by a trial court to a father-son duo in a double murder case from 2005 [State of Uttar Pradesh v. Vijay Prakash Sharma and Another + 2 connected matters]..While upholding the conviction of the duo for murder, a Bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I was of the view that the case did not fall within the category of 'rarest of rare cases' to warrant the death sentence. It therefore reduced their sentence from the death penalty to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural life."...we are of the firm view that the present case does not fall within the category of 'rarest of rare cases' attracting death penalty due to presence of two factors; firstly, the present case, undisputedly is one of the circumstantial evidence and secondly, both the appellants have no prior criminal antecedent. Therefore, it appears expedient in the interest of justice that the extreme punishment of death penalty awarded to the appellants under Section 302/34 I.P.C. be substituted with sentence of imprisonment for life," the Court said in its September 27 judgment..The case dates back to 2005 when an agreement was entered between the informant, who was a builder, and the man, deceased Krishna Kumar Gupta for the construction of shops and an office near Mayfair Tiraha, Hazratganj, which was purchased from Kuber Finance by Gupta.One, Vijay Sharma was the owner of a security agency whose office was situated near the place of construction.Sharma frequently visited the construction site to threaten Gupta. Sharma claimed that the construction place of shops belonged to Kuber Finance which owed him money. Sharma allegedly demanded that Gupta hand over three shops, once construction was over, to settle this amount.This exchange took place on April 16, 2005 as well. This time both Vijay Sharma and his son, Dheeraj Sharma threatened Gupta, in the presence of Gupta's son Kapil and the informant.The discussion heated up after Gupta told the father-son duo that they had no right to get three shops. During this altercation, Dheeraj Sharma ran and picked up a gun from his office and gave the gun to his father, Vijay Sharma.Shots were fired, with Gupta dying on the spot, and his son Kapil also succumbing to injuries.The trial court convicted Vijay and Dheeraj Sharma for double murder and sentenced them to death. A reference was then made to the High Court for confirming the death sentence.Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, the convicted duo also moved the High Court with an appeal..The High Court noted that the eye-witnesses, including the informant, had turned hostile. Nevertheless, the Court opined that their evidences cannot be completely discarded. It also noted that the testimonies of police officials (as witnesses) were credible and could not be doubted.The Court went on to note that the presence of the convicts at the place of the crime was not established by direct evidence and proceeded to analyse witness statements. It concluded that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to unerringly indicate that the father-son duo were guilty of murder. "The circumstantial evidence is incapable of explanation of any other hypothesis than that of the guilt of the appellants and is inconsistent with his innocence," the Court observed.The Court concluded that there was no reason to interfere with the trial court's conviction of the appellants. However, the Court found that the death sentence was not appropriate in this case, even if it involved a very gruesome murder, since the appellants were convicted based on circumstantial evidence and since they did not have any other criminal history. It, therefore, partly allowed the convicts' appeal and commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment. .Advocates Nadeem Murtaza and Aditya Vikram Singh appeared for the convicts.Government Advocate Dr VK Singh assisted by Additional Government Advocate Rajdeep Singh, advocates Ajeet Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, appeared for State of Uttar Pradesh..[Read Judgment]