NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the death sentence of rape convict Atul Nihale for rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh.
A three-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria passed the order staying the death sentence.
In January 2026, the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the punishment awarded by a special POCSO court at Bhopal and sentenced Nihale to the gallows, noting that the nature of the crime and the absence of mitigating circumstances placed the case squarely within the rarest of rare category.
The two-judge bench comprising Justices Vivek Agarwal and Ramkumar Choubey had dismissed Nihale's criminal appeal seeking relief from the sentence, following which the accused moved the top court.
As per the prosecution's case, the victim's parents lodged a missing complaint on September 24, 2024, after the child failed to return home.
After a massive search operation, the police detected a foul smell emanating from a flat at Bajpai Nagar, Eidgah Hills, Bhopal.
Upon forcibly entering the premises, a white plastic water tank placed in the bathroom was found to contain the decomposed body of the child.
Later, the parents of the child identified the body to be of their daughter.