MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently commuted the death penalty imposed on a Tirunelveli man, who sexually assaulted and impregnated his 14-year-old daughter, to life imprisonment till the remainder of his natural life.
Disposing of the referred trial case and the appeal filed by the convict against the conviction and sentence imposed on him by the trial court in January, a bench of justices N Anand Venkatesh and KK Ramakrishnan observed that the trial judiciary stands as the first sentinel of justice, having had the singular advantage of observing the demeanor of witnesses, the anguish of the victim, and the conduct of the accused.
However, it is imperative that the decision, particularly in the sentencing phase, is not swayed by emotion or sentiment, they added. In the present case, the judges opined that the trial judge was influenced by emotion, sentiment, and the horror of the offence.
They also pointed out that the trial judge had erred in observing that the accused had failed to produce material to demonstrate his capacity for reformation, as the burden of establishing that the convict is ‘beyond reformation’ lies with the state.
The trial judge also failed to take into account that the convict’s lack of means to engage a counsel constitutes a mitigating factor and ought to have been considered while sentencing. Moreover, no meaningful opportunity was granted to the convict to place these circumstances before the trial court, they added.
The judges further referred to the distinction between the death penalty and life imprisonment till natural death and said that while the former extinguishes not only life but also the possibility of repentance, remorse, or moral transformation, the latter condemns the convict to a ceaseless confrontation with his crime, a lifelong dialogue with his own conscience, an unending expiation in the solitude of incarceration.
“To take a life in the name of justice is its gravest function; to spare it, when the law so permits, is its highest wisdom”, they observed and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment till natural death, calling it a punishment more severe than death. The convict should not be entitled to premature release, remission, or commutation, they added.
It may be noted that the referred trial case relating to the imposition of the death penalty on nine policemen for the custodial death of P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks of Thoothukudi, is pending before the bench and would be taken up on April 30.