Calcutta High Court Commutes Death Sentence Of Man Convicted For Rape & Murder Of 2.5 Year Old Girl Child

The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentence of one Suresh Paswan, who was charged with rape and murder of a two and a half year old girl child who was sleeping under a flyover around Kolkata's Khidderporearea with her family.

Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi held: "The circumstances of the case do not suggest that the offence committed was preplanned or was an outcome of any rivalry or enmity with the family of the victim. As has been held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in many cases that every murder is gruesome but does not justify death penalty. In any case, we are not in a position to return a finding that the offence involved in the case at hand falls under the category of 'rarest of rare cases' to justify the punishment of death."

The appellant was a horsekeeper and the Royal Calcutta Turf Club and was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering the girl child whose family would reside under a flyover in Kolkata's Khidderpore area.

It was submitted by the prosecution witnesses that on the day that the child went missing, the appellant was seen roaming around her residence, and later, people had spotted him carrying a girl child in his lap, at around 1 am that night.

In view of the evidence in the case, the trial court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to death. The appellant in the present proceedings has challenged the trial court's decision.

In holding that the appellant had indeed committed the offences as alleged against him, the court held that the present case did not fall in the rarest of rare category, and commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. Considering the age of the victim, the court also mandated a minimum of 50 years in prison till the convict would be eligible for remission.

Case: STATE OF WEST BENGAL Vs. SURESH PASWAN

Case No: C.R.A. 384 of 2019

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