Supreme Court commutes death penalty

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death penalty of a man convicted for raping and killing a three-year-old girl in 2016 and considered the possibility of his reformation and rehabilitation.

Commuting the death sentence of a Chhattisgarh resident to life imprisonment, a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao maintained a speedy trial is desirable but sufficient time ought to have been given in this case to the counsel appearing for the accused to prepare for the defence.

The bench passed the order on an appeal filed by Lochan Srivas against the conviction and death penalty awarded to him by a trial court and further upheld by the high court in Chhattisgarh. It noted that the trial judge passed the judgment and order of conviction on June 17, 2016 and awarded the death penalty the same day. The court said the convict was not a hardened criminal. "It therefore cannot be said that there is no possibility of the appellant being reformed and rehabilitated foreclosing the alternative option of a lesser sentence and making imposition of death sentence imperative," the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and B V Nagarathna, said.

The apex court said the trial court as well as the high court only took into consideration the crime but not the criminal, his state of mind, his socio¬-economic background etc. "The appellant is a young person, who was 23 years old at the time of commission of the offence. He comes from a rural background. The state has not placed any evidence to show that there is no possibility with respect to reformation and the rehabilitation of the accused."