SC stays execution of Gadag man convicted for rape, murder

 The Supreme Court has stayed death penalty of a Gadag resident on his appeal challenging conviction and punishment for rape-cum-murder of a five-year-old girl child.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Kurian Joseph and Amitava Roy suspended execution of Irappa Siddappa Murgannavar till further orders.

The petitioner challenged the High Court of Karnataka’s order of March 6. The high court has confirmed the death penalty awarded to him by a trial court on March 8, 2012, after finding his “culpability as of extreme depravity that arouses a sense of revulsion in the mind of an ordinary person.” On hearing his counsel Gaurav Agrawal and Abhikalp Pratap Singh, the court directed for calling for the record of the lower court. It also ordered for posting the appeal before a three-judge bench for consideration.

“After the record is received, the registry is directed to place the matter before the appropriate bench.There shall be stay of execution of the death sentence until further orders,” the bench said.
Murugannavar, 25, was accused of kidnapping the daughter of Sanganabasappa, who was known to him, by enticing her away on December 28, 2010.

He raped her and throttled her to death. Subsequently, he immersed her body in a water body after putting it in a gunny bag.

The high court noted Murugannavar subjected an innocent and helpless five-year-old girl to “a barbaric treatment.”

“The motivation of the perpetrator, the vulnerability of the victim, the enormity of the crime and execution thereof persuade us to hold that this is one of the rarest of rare cases where sentence of death is eminently desirable not only to deter others from committing such atrocious crimes, but also to give emphatic expression to society’s abhorrence to such crimes,” the high court has concluded.