Supreme Court upholds death penalty for 55-year-old who raped, killed 4-year-old (Maharashtra)

Updated: May 03, 2017 18:02 IST

Press Trust of India 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a review petition of a 55-year-old man and sent him to gallows for raping and stoning to death a four-year-old girl in 2008. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said “no case is made out” and dismissed the review petition. The bench, which also comprised Justices RF Nariman and UU Lalit, said “the aggravating circumstances and the barbaric manner in which the four-year-old was killed, clearly outweigh the mitigating circumstances.” The convict is currently lodged in Nagpur jail.

The apex court had on July 14 last year agreed to examine the plea of Dupare, who had claimed he was not accorded a fair chance to put forth his arguments by the trial court which sentenced him to death.(Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

The court had on November 26, 2014 upheld the trial court as well as Bombay High Court judgements awarding death sentence to Maharashtra resident Vasanta Sampat Dupare in the 2008 rape-cum-murder case of Nagpur. The apex court had on July 14 last year agreed to examine the plea of Dupare, who had claimed he was not accorded a fair chance to put forth his arguments by the trial court which sentenced him to death. While upholding death penalty awarded to the convict, the top court had said that the rape of a minor girl child is nothing but “a monstrous burial of her dignity in darkness.” The court had referred to the sequence of events in the case and said that the convict, who was a neighbour, lured the girl, raped her and then battered her to death using two heavy stones.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/supreme-court-upholds-death-penalty-for-55-year-old-who-raped-killed-4-year-old/story-DBgJzZMnH5vAegOaD6JXYK.html (Accessed 23 December 2018)

SC puts on hold child rapist-murderer's death sentence (Maharashtra)

Feb 11, 2016 00:04:03 IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the execution of the death sentence of Vasanta Sampat Dupare who had sought recall of its verdict upholding his conviction and death sentence for raping and stoning to death a four-year-old girl in Maharashtra in 2008. 

An apex court bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit agreed to hear the review plea by the 55-year-old death row convict as his counsel submitted that the lower court had not properly examined the additional evidences and the related exhibits in the course of the trial. Putting on hold the death sentence, the bench told his counsel to satisfy it as to how its earlier judgment, sought to be recalled, was wrong. A bench headed by Justice Misra had on November 26, 2014 had rejected Dupare's plea challenging the Bombay High court decision upholding his death penalty. 

The apex court while upholding the death sentence had said "the rape of a minor child is nothing but a monstrous burial of her dignity in darkness. It is a crime against the holy body of a girl child and the soul of the society and such a crime is aggravated by the manner in which it has been committed".

Source: https://www.firstpost.com/india/sc-puts-on-hold-child-rapist-murderers-death-sentence-2620824.html (Accessed 20 December 2018)

Man gets death for raping, killing 4-yr-old

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent a 47-year-old man to the gallows for luring a 4-year-old girl with the promise of buying her chocolates, brutally assaulting her sexually and then murdering her by using two heavy stones to crush her skull when she was writhing in pain after the perverted act. 

The convict was a neighbour of the victim who called him uncle like other children in the residential area under Wadi police station of Nagpur. He lured away the girl on April 3, 2008. The girl's battered and sexually assaulted body was discovered the next day by police at the instance of the accused after his arrest. 

He was convicted based on 'last seen theory' corroborated by several independent witnesses. The trial court on February 23, 2012 awarded death penalty finding the crime falling within the parameters for 'rarest of the rare' category. It also found no mitigating circumstances in favour of the convict, an exercise mandated by the SC in Machhi Singh case. 

Affirming the conviction and sentence last year, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court said: "The accused raped a 4-year-old girl and thereafter battered and smashed her head by two heavy stones and killed her... Battering the head of the girl of tender age was done by the accused with extreme cruelty." The accused, Vasanta Sampat Dupare, appealed against the judgment in SC. Given the recent trend of extreme caution adopted by the apex court in awarding death penalty even in brutal murder cases, a 3-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R F Nariman and U U Lalit made a fresh scrutiny of the evidence presented by the prosecution during the trial against Dupare, who was also a history-sheeter with four criminal cases pending against him. Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Misra said: "This case deserves to fall in the category of rarest of rare cases. It is inconceivable from the perspective of society that a married man aged about two scores and seven make a four-year minor innocent girl child the prey of his lust and deliberately cause her death." 

The bench said the child trusted the man because of his acquaintance with her family and the socially ingrained trust attached to such proximity with elders. "This (rape and murder) is not only betrayal of an individual trust but destruction and devastation of the social trust. It is perversity in its enormity. It irrefragably invites the extreme abhorrence and indignation of the collective," it said and upheld award of death penalty. The court said taking into account Dupare's age, his appalling cruelty towards the minor girl was 'extremely shocking'. "It was not committed under any mental stress or emotional disturbance and it is difficult to comprehend that he would not commit such acts and would be reformed and rehabilitated." 

"The barbaric act of the appellant does not remotely show any concern for the precious life of a minor child who had not seen life. The criminality of the conduct of the appellant is not only depraved and debased, but can have a menacing effect on the society," it said. "As the circumstances would graphically depict, he would remain a menace to the society, for a defenseless child has become his prey. In our consideration, there are no mitigating circumstances," the court said. 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Man-gets-death-for-raping-killing-4-yr-old/articleshow/45290629.cms [last accessed 06.02.2015]