Rajasthan High Court commutes death penalty of man convicted for rape, murder of 4-year-old; awards him life in jail

The Rajasthan High Court recently commuted the death sentence awarded to one Suresh Kumar who was convicted for the rape and murder of a four-year-old child. [State Of Rajasthan v. Suresh Kumar].Justices Pankaj Bhandari and Bhuwan Goyal awarded the lesser sentence of life imprisonment after observing that Kumar was about 23 years at the time of the crime and that he had a one-year-old daughter and wife.The judges also considered that the crime was not premeditated, Kumar did not have any criminal antecedents, and his conduct in police custody was cooperative. Hence, it could not be said that he was a menace to society, the bench found.These mitigating circumstances prompted the Court to commute Kumar’s death sentence, although the bench observed that the four-year-old victim was brutally raped and drowned to death..The Court also reiterated the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Bachan Singh case, wherein it was held that life imprisonment is the rule whereas death is the exception.“In our view, this case does not fall within the category of ‘rarest of rare case’ and therefore, we commute the death penalty to that of life imprisonment, which shall extend to the full natural life of the appellant but subject to any remission or commutation at the instance of the government for good and sufficient reasons,” the High Court held..The incident took place in 2021. A trial court had sentenced Kumar to death in 2022 and the same was placed before the High Court for confirmation. Meanwhile, Kumar also filed an appeal challenging the trial court verdict before the High Court. The High Court was told that after the child’s body was recovered from a pond, villagers had caught hold of a suspect and handed him over to the police..The defence claimed that the person so arrested was initially stated to be one, “Shyoraj” and not Kumar. Kumar claimed that he was falsely implicated..However, the Court noted that a witness later clarified that the confusion in names had arisen because Kumar had a cousin named Shyoraj. The same witness also stated that when Kumar was caught hold of by the villagers, he stated that he had committed a grave mistake and raped and drowned the child.The Court further noted that Kumar had given no explanation why he would be falsely implicated in this case.Moreover, DNA samples taken from Kumar matched the DNA found on the skirt worn by the deceased child.All of this led the High Court to ultimately conclude Kumar was guilty. He was, therefore, sentenced to life in prison for the remainder of his natural life. However, the Court clarified that his sentence may be commuted by the government for good and sufficient reasons.Advocates Mahendra Kumar and Mohan Choudhary represented Suresh Kumar. Additional Government Advocate Javed Choudhary appeared for the State. Advocates Fahad Hasan and Amaan Ahmed Ali appeared for the complainants. .[Read Judgment]