CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has commuted the death penalty awarded to a 22-year-old man — on two counts of penetrative sexual assault and murder — to life imprisonment, after finding that the charge of penetrative sexual assault was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
A division bench of justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan in a recent judgment modified the sentence of death awarded by the special court for Pocso Act cases in Puducherry on two counts — penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the Pocso Act, and murder under Section 302 of the IPC.
The incident took place on March 2, 2024. The victim was nine years old then. Her mother left her and her elder sister at home. Since the girl was found missing, a complaint was lodged with the police.
Enquiries led to finding her body in a canal on March 5, leading to the arrest of two persons, including the convict. The other accused died by suicide on September 16, 2024, in prison.
The trial court sentenced the convict to death for penetrative sexual assault and murder, along with lesser punishment on other charges, including abduction and screening of evidence.
Delivering the judgment on the trial court’s verdict and the convict’s appeal, the high court bench said, “The question is whether the circumstances proved by the prosecution unerringly point out to the irresistible conclusion that the accused had committed the offence of penetrative sexual assault on the victim. We have to answer the said question in the negative, as such a serious offence cannot be inferred only on the circumstances.”
There is a residual doubt as to whether his actions were so depraved that the sentence of death is the only option, the bench said, adding that it is of the view that the imposition of life sentence would be proportionate for the offence proved and established by the prosecution, bearing in mind the “nature of the evidence let in”.