SC commutes death sentence in rape-cum-murder case

The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence to life term of a tutor convicted for the rape and murder of his pupil. The court, however, ordered that he should not be granted any remission until he served 30 years in jail.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana, Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Indira Banerjee said though appellant Parsuram took advantage of his relationship but the case doesn’t fall under the category of the “rarest of rare” to award him the capital punishment.“The interest of justice would be met if the appellant herein is sentenced to undergo imprisonment of 30 years (without any remission),” the court said.

After going through facts and circumstances of the case, the bench said the probability that the accused, who was just 22-year-old at the time of the offence, would commit criminal acts of violence in the future was not forthcoming.

“Undoubtedly, the offence committed by the accused/appellant deserves serious condemnation and is the most heinous crime, but on considering the cumulative facts and circumstances of the case, we do not think that the instant case falls in the category of the “rarest of rare” case, and we feel somewhat reluctant in endorsing the death sentence,” the bench said.

The court relied upon the depositions of witnesses, including the victim’s mother, as well as the medical report, to conclude that it was a case of rape of the girl, whose body was found in a mustard field on February 6, 2011. It found no ground to interfere with the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Gwalior bench order as well as the trial court’s judgement, holding Parsuram guilty of the offence of murder and rape.