CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday commuted the death sentence awarded to one Mohammed Mustak to imprisonment for life with a rider.
A Special POCSO Court in Cuttack had convicted Mustak of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in a village under Salepur police station and sentenced him to death on September 19, 2019.
The high court said he shall undergo minimum sentence of 20 years before moving an application for remission to be considered on merit only and if no remission is granted, the sentence of imprisonment for life shall mean till the remainder of his life. The state government had moved the high court for confirmation of the death sentence while Mustak had also filed a criminal appeal against the trial court verdict.
While acquitting 31-year-old Mustak of the charges of rape but confirming his conviction for murder, the division bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice RK Pattanaik said that during the course of argument, the court enquired specifically from the state counsel as to whether there was any criminal antecedent against the appellant and whether there was anything adverse against his conduct during detention in jail custody, to which he answered in negative.
The bench also said it is not disputed that the appellant is a married person and has children. No material was produced before it by the state counsel that there is no possibility of reformation and rehabilitation.
“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future - strikes a note of reformatory potential even in the ghastliest crime. Human endeavour should be to hate the sin and not the sinner. There is still life in life sentence and only death in death sentence,” the bench observed. “Therefore, we are not inclined to impose death sentence for the offence under section 302 of IPC particularly when we have acquitted the appellant of the charges under section 376-AB of IPC so also section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act (Sexual Assault),” the bench further stated.