The Jharkhand High Court Tuesday commuted the death sentence in the 2018 Gumla rape-and-murder to life term, saying that the case “does not fall under the rarest of rare” category.
A Division Bench led by Justice Rangon Mukhopadhyay passed the order on Tuesday while hearing two appeals — one filed by the convict, Bandhan Oraon, against the lower court’s verdict and the other by the state government seeking confirmation of the death sentence.
The case pertains to 2018 rape-and-murder of a toddler in Gumla district on September 23, 2018. The convict, Bandhan Oraon was eventually found guilty and sentenced to death.
The case was then referred to the high court since the law mandates that all death penalties must be confirmed by it.
Special Public Prosecutor Vineet Kumar Vashishtha, who represented the Jharkhand government, told The Indian Express: “Bandhan Oraon had appealed against his conviction and sentence. I appeared for the State and both sides presented detailed arguments before the Court reserved its judgment. The appeal has now been dismissed on merits, but the court chose to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment.”
This is the third such instance in this month where the Jharkhand high court has commuted a death sentence in a case involving a minor.
On July 18, the court commuted the death sentence of a convict, Rohit Rai, in the 2017 rape-and-murder of a toddler saying there was a possibility of reformation given that the convict had no prior criminal record.
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The same day, the court also commuted the death sentence of another convict in a 2014 case saying that the circumstances did not justify capital punishment.
