"Not a person with criminal mindset": Supreme Court commutes death penalty of man convicted for murdering sister and her lover

The Supreme Court on Friday commuted the death sentence awarded to one Digambar who was found guilty of murdering his married sister and her lover in 2017 [Digambar v. State of Maharashtra]..A three-judge bench of Justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said that the convict was not a person with criminal mindset or criminal records."Appellant-Digambar has been found to be well-behaved, helping and a person with leadership qualities. He is not a person with criminal mindset and criminal records," the Court observed.The Court, therefore, upheld the conviction but set aside the death penalty and commuted it to life imprisonment..The Court was hearing an appeal challenging the 2021 decision of the Bombay High Court which had confirmed the death penalty of the appellant and life imprisonment imposed upon the appellant and one Mohan respectively, for conviction under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)..By way of background, the deceased-Pooja had got married in June 2017. However, she was having a love affair with one Govind for the past 5 years. In the last of July 2017, she left her matrimonial home. The present appellant-Digambar, who was the brother of Pooja, was suspicious that she must have gone with her lover, Govind. Therefore, he tried to enquire from Govind about the presence of Pooja but he denied the same.One night when Govind's phone was switched off, the two convicts when to Govind's plce and found him there along with Pooja. The appellant convinced Pooja that he will help her marry Govind and, thereafter, all the four left the place on a motorcycle.After reaching his aunt's place, the appellant asked Pooja and Govind to wait for some time and returned while hiding a sickle. Before the fatal move, the accused-appellant tried to convince Pooja and Govind against the relationship but the refused to heed him.The appellant then took out the sickle and attacked both Pooja and Govind resulting in the death of the two.The trial court convicted both Digambar and Mohan. Digambar was sentenced to death while Mohan was given life imprisonment. The High Court also confirmed the same.Aggrieved, Digambar moved the present appeal before the apex court..The apex court found that the prosecution had established that the deceased duo and the accused persons left together and soon thereafter the death of the two had occurred."The burden to show as to what happened after leaving the house would shift on the accused in view of Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act. It is to be noted that what transpired after the accused left along with the deceased, is only within the knowledge of the accused. However, the accused persons have utterly failed to discharge the said burden," the Court observed.Hence, it upheld the conviction. .However, as regards the validity of the death sentence awarded by the trial court and confirmed by the High Court, the top court was of the view that the present case will not fall under the 'rarest of rare case' category.In this regard, the Court noted that the appellant had not have any criminal antecedent and was just 25 years old at the time of commission of the crime."The medical evidence would further reveal that the appellants have not acted in a brutal manner, inasmuch as there is only single injury inflicted on both the deceased. As such, we find that the present case cannot be considered to be ‘rarest of rare’ case," the Court said..It also noted that the report submitted by the Probation officer also showed that Digambar was well-behaved, helping and a person with leadership qualities, and he is not a person with criminal mindset and criminal records.Therefore, the Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment. As regards Mohan, the Court confirmed the life imprisonment awarded to him..Advocates Sudhanshu S Choudhari and Subodh S Patil appeared for the appellants.Advocate Chinmoy Khaladkar appeared for the State..[Read Judgment]