Jharkhand High Court commutes man’s death penalty in rape and murder case to life term, cites lack of reform assessment

Written by Jagriti Rai

New Delhi | Updated: January 8, 2026 04:18 PM IST

Jharkhand High Court News: While citing the Supreme Court judgement, the bench said that the probability of reformation, rehabilitation and social re integration of the appellant, also can't be ruled out.

Jharkhand High Court News: The Jharkhand High Court recently commuted a trial court’s order of death sentence to a man into life imprisonment in the rape and murder case of a five-year-old girl.

A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Arun Kumar Rai was hearing a review plea of a convict booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

“Even in the backdrop of the fact that accused was involved in three similar nature of cases, and the case related to the gruesome rape and murder of a girl child, the apex court, laying down the law that in absence of any consideration about the probability of reformation, rehabilitation and social reintegration of the appellant into the society, the death sentence awarded upon, could not be maintained, commuted the death sentence of the accused,” the court observed. Referring to the top court’s Sachin Kumar Singhraha vs. State of MP decision, the high court added that the probability of reformation, rehabilitation, and social reintegration of the appellant cannot be ruled out.

Jharkhand High Court News: Jharkhand High Court was hearing a plea filed convict and commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Case

According to the prosecution, the case dates back to 2022, when the man approached the victim. Later, the child’s body was discovered at a secluded place, and the medical examination confirmed the child had been sexually assaulted and then strangulated. In 2023, the police submitted the chargesheet, and the trial court took formal cognisance of the offences under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC and Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act. While taking into consideration the “last seen” testimony and medical experts who detailed the brutal nature of the injuries, the trial court ordered the death penalty for the convict. Following this, the convict approached the high court against his conviction.

Decision

Drawing on the landmark judgments in Rajendra Pralhadrao Wasnik vs. State of Maharashtra the court held that though the extreme penalty of death was not warranted in the facts of this case, the accused does not deserve any major leniency in the matter of remission of the sentence, awarding the capital punishment of death to the petitioner for the offence under Section 302 of the IPC, is hereby, commuted to the life sentence. Commuting the death penalty to a life sentence, the court said that the alternative option shall serve the interest of justice. The court added that the sentence passed against the petitioner for the offence under Section 6 of the POCSO Act shall also run concurrently.

“We also hereby affirm his sentence for the offence under Section 6 of the Act,” the court observed. “Accordingly, the trial court judgment of conviction stands affirmed, with the modification in the sentence of the convict,” the court ruled. The bench also ordered the compensation to the parents of the victim under the ‘victim compensation scheme’.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/jharkhand-high-court-overturns-death-sentence-in-minors-rape-and-murder-case-cites-lack-of-reform-assessment-10461700/

Punjab - Death sentence commuted after 19 years: Why ‘illegal solitary confinement’ saved 2 convicts from gallows

A bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rohit Kapoor allowed the appeal filed by the two convicts and commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment.

Written by Ashish Shaji

New Delhi | Updated: January 7, 2026 06:23 PM IST

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty of two men convicted for kidnapping and murdering a minor boy for ransom in 2005 on the grounds of their illegal solitary confinement and the state’s delay in deciding mercy petitions. A bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rohit Kapoor allowed the appeal filed by the two convicts and commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives without any commutation or premature release.

Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor

“The death sentence awarded to the appellants shall be commuted and shall be substituted with a sentence of imprisonment for life, for the remainder of their natural lives, and they shall not be entitled to any commutation or premature release,” the court ordered. Interestingly, the bench started its verdict quoting American journalist and writer Rick Bragg as saying, “Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.” 

The order also quoted Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith as saying, “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent”.

Scottish Economist and Philosopher Adam Smith (Source: Wiki)

Case

The two men were arrested for the 2005 kidnapping and murder of a sixteen year old boy from Hoshiarpur. The convicts had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. The trial court awarded them the death penalty in 2006 which was later confirmed by the high court. In 2008, the Supreme Court also upheld the death sentence awarded to the two convicts. The review petitions filed before the Supreme Court were dismissed. They moved mercy petitions in 2012, however, it was rejected by the governor of Punjab in 2015.

Both the convicts approached the high court after rejection of their mercy petitions for commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment and for quashing the death warrants. The single judge dismissed their pleas. Subsequently, the convicts filed individual appeals before the division bench.

Findings

The court observed that the convicts were subjected to illegal solitary confinement from 2006 to 2009, prior to the exhaustion of their judicial remedies. “It stands duly established that the appellants, were illegally kept under solitary confinement for the afore-mentioned period in violation of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sunil Batra’s case, before the exhaustion of their judicial remedies,” the court noted. On the issue of delay, the court found that a total period of more than four years of unexplained and unreasonable delay in processing the mercy petitions was attributable to the State authorities. 

It observed that the convicts were neither promptly informed of their right to file mercy petitions nor provided legal aid, contrary to mandatory guidelines. “We find that after the rejection of the review petitions of the appellants by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 20.04.2011, they were not informed about the right to file mercy petitions, nor any legal aid was provided, in violation of the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the directions in the case of Shatrugan Chauhans’ case (supra), leading to a delay of more than one year and four months in filing of the mercy petitions,” the order read. The court held that all these supervening factors resulted in infringement of the rights of the convicts under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/death-sentence-commuted-after-19-years-why-illegal-solitary-confinement-saved-2-convicts-from-gallows-10460076/

Odisha - Man gets death penalty in minor’s rape, murder case

7 Jan 2026

The Hans India

Bhubaneswar: A Special POCSO court in Bargarh district on Tuesday sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of the rape and murder of a six-year-old minor girl in Paikmal area of the district in November 2024.“On November 15, 2024, at around 9 am, the six-year-old girl and her grandfather were at their house when the accused, identified as Prashanta Bag (21), called the victim to go fishing. Bag, along with two other minors, took the girl to a nearby water body,” said Dyutish Acharya, special Public Prosecutor in-charge. Acharya said after a few minutes, Bag left the two other minors at the water body and took the girl alone into the jungle, where he sexually assaulted her. Fearing that she might reveal the incident to her family, he brutally bludgeoned her to death. The accused also strangled the victim with a belt.

When the victim’s grandfather, who had gone to his paddy field for harvesting, returned after a few hours, he found Bag at his house with blood on his cheek. Suspecting foul play, he asked Bag the whereabouts of his granddaughter. Bag gave evasive answers, claiming he had sent her away long ago and did not know where she was. The grandfather and other villagers began searching for the victim and eventually found the girl’s body lying nude in a pool of blood in the nearby jungle, with severe head injuries. They also discovered that her neck had been tied with a belt. The villagers and family members caught Bag and handed him over to the police. Based on the grandfather’s complaint, Paikmal police registered a case and arrested Bag on November 15, 2024. 

After examining the statements of 37 prosecution witnesses, 55 documents, and 27 material objects, the court pronounced its judgment on Tuesday. The family of the deceased was awarded a compensation of Rs 15 lakh under the victim compensation scheme. Northern Range IG Himanshu Kumar Lal said that the judgment of the case will certainly become a deterrent against the heinous crimes against women and girls.

Source: https://www.thehansindia.com/news/national/man-gets-death-penalty-in-minors-rape-murder-case-1037169#

Tamil Nadu - Death sentence to labourer for sexually assaulting, impregnating 15-year-old daughter

Published - January 05, 2026 07:25 pm IST - TIRUNELVELI

The Hindu Bureau

The special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) cases has awarded the death sentence to a 43-year-old labourer, who sexually assaulted and impregnated his 15-year-old daughter.

According to prosecution, a tree-cutter from a village near Valliyoor lived with his second wife and two daughters, aged 15 and 12, after his first wife left him several years ago. Since the second wife was also a labourer, the eldest daughter stopped going to school to cook food for the family.

When the girl was alone in the house, the tree-cutter sexually assaulted his daughter on multiple occasions and threatened to kill her if she told her mother about it. When the girl developed health issues in February last, her mother took her to the hospital where the doctors found that she was pregnant. Based on a complaint from the girl’s mother, Valliyoor All Women Police registered a case against the tree-cutter and arrested him. Investigators also collected DNA samples, which proved categorically the charges against the tree-cutter.

POCSO Court Judge K. Suresh Kumar, who awarded the death sentence to a man from a village near Nanguneri in a similar case on December 24, 2025, gave capital punishment to the tree-cutter on Monday. Special Public Prosecutor P. Usha said the court also directed the Tamil Nadu Government to pay a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the victim.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/death-sentence-to-labourer-for-sexually-assaulting-impregnating-15-year-old-daughter/article70473717.ece