The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence awarded to a man convicted of raping and murdering a mentally and physically challenged seven-year-old girl in Rajasthan in 2013, saying “there is no possibility of her reformation and rehabilitation”.
A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar said, “The offense was of extreme corruption, which shakes the conscience, especially to look at the target (a seven-year-old mentally and physically challenged girl) and then look at the For the manner of committing murder, where the head of the hapless victim was literally crushed, resulting in multiple injuries including fractures of the front bone.”
“This is apart from the fact that the innocent victim was kidnapped on a stolen motorcycle by misusing the trust gained from the offer of confectionery items and besides the fact that she was brutally and inhumanely raped,” Said it.
The court said convict Manoj Pratap Singh “has a family with wife and minor daughter and aged father and the offense was committed when he was only 28 years old”.
“However, these mitigating factors are pitted against several other factors relating to the appellant. One, his activities and actions prior to the present offense where he was found to be involved in at least four cases [under provisions relating to causing damage to public property, theft and attempt to murder], Second, the fact that the present offense itself was committed with the aid of a stolen motorcycle. Third, and more importantly, his conduct after being convicted, where he not only earned a 7-day sentence for a quarrel with a co-prisoner, but also convicted him of the offense of murder of another prison inmate Gone,” the bench said.
It states that “read in full, the fact-sheet relating to the appellant leads only to the logical deduction that there is no possibility that he will not revert to the offense if any indulgence is given to him… There is no scope for reform and rehabilitation”.
While upholding the death sentence, the judgment said: “Therefore, the facts of the present case, taken as a whole, make it clear that it is unlikely that the appellant, if granted exemption, would have been able to Will not and will not be inclined to commit such offence again. Consequently, we find that it has no option but to confirm the death sentence awarded to the appellant, as it is unavoidable in this particular case.”
According to the prosecution, Singh abducted the child from their vending cart, raped and murdered him in front of his parents in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district on January 17, 2013.
He was sentenced to death by the trial court, which was confirmed by the Rajasthan High Court in May 2015.