SC upholds death penalty of man for raping, killing 4 yr-old

The Supreme Court today sent a 53-year-old man to gallows for raping and stoning a four year old girl to death in 2008, saying it is a "barbaric" crime against the "soul of the society" and the offender would remain a menace.

"The rape of a minor girl child is nothing but a monstrous burial of her dignity in the darkness. It is a crime against the holy body of a girl child and the soul of the society and such a crime is aggravated by the manner in which it has been committed," a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.

The apex court said the case falls under the rarest of rare category and upheld the trial court as well as Bombay High Court's judgements awarding death sentence to Vasanta Sampat Dupare in 2008 rape-cum-murder case of Nagpur.

The court referred to the sequence of events in the case and said that the convict, a neighbour, lured the girl, raped her and then battered her to death using two heavy stones.

"The injuries caused on the minor girl are likely to send a chill in the spine of the society and shiver in the marrows of human conscience," it said.

"The nature of the crime and the manner in which it has been committed speaks about its uncommonness. The crime speaks of depravity, degradation and uncommonality. It is diabolical and barbaric. The crime was committed in an inhuman manner," the court said.

The bench, also comprising justices R F Nariman and U U Lalit, said, "The appalling cruelty shown by him to the minor girl child is extremely shocking and it gets accentuated, when his age is taken into consideration.

"It was not committed under any mental stress or emotional disturbance and it is difficult to comprehend that he would not commit such acts and would be reformed or rehabilitated.

"As the circumstances would graphically depict, he would remain a menace to the society, for a defenceless child has become his prey. In our considered opinion, there are no mitigating circumstances," the bench said.

It said, "The criminality of the conduct of the appellant is not only depraved and debased, but can have a menacing effect on the society. It is calamitous".