The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently commuted the death sentence awarded to a 27-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl in 2021 [State of Haryana v Anand Singh].A Division Bench of Justice Anoop Chitkara and Justice Ramesh Chander Dimri modified the sentence to rigorous imprisonment for life with a clarification that the convict Anand Singh shall not be released unless he has served an actual sentence of 50 years. Further, the Court also enhanced his fine for murder to ₹50 Lakh. In case he fails to pay the amount, he will have to undergo further imprisonment of 500 days. “To ensure that this pervert is not a potential risk to the other girls, he must remain in prison till the sunset of his virility,” the Court said..The case dates back to May 24, 2021 when the victim was reported missing by her father, a scheduled tribe person from Madhya Pradesh. They were residing at a tile plant in Palwal where he used to work as a labourer. The victim had been lured by the accused, a neighbour, by taking advantage of her parents’ departure for work.In July 2023, a trial court found Singh guilty of murder and rape. It was found that he had brutally raped the minor, then throttled her to death and concealed her dead body in a pit. He was sentenced to death prompting the appeal before the High Court..In the judgment delivered on July 08, the High Court ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond doubt the involvement of accused Anand Singh. It also found that the offence of penetrative sexual assault was established by the postmortem report and confirmed by DNA evidence. Thus, it upheld the conviction of the accused. However, considering various judicial precedents, the Court decided to commute his death penalty. “Regarding the murder sentence under §302 IPC, all the mitigating factors compel this Court to award the maximum possible incarceration, other than capital punishment, to avoid violating the accused's right to a sentence proportionate to what was awarded to other similarly placed convicts, as an alternative to a death sentence. Given the above, it shall be appropriate to commute the death sentences on both counts of murder and rape to life imprisonment,” the Bench said..Advocates Yuvraj Shandilya, Rahul Mohan, Karan Sharma and Shiva Khurmi represented the State.Legal Aid Counsel Vibha Dhiman appeared for the convict.Advocate Prateek Gupta served as amicus curiae in the case.[Read Judgment]
