Cuttack: The Odisha High Court has commuted the death sentence awarded to two men, accused of rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.
While the death sentence awarded to Sk Asif Ali, was commuted to life imprisonment, the other convict, Sk Akil Ali was acquitted. Commuting Sk Asif Ali's death sentence, the high court noted that the accused "is offering prayers many times in a day and is ready to accept punishment as he has surrendered before God."
Pocso Court in Jagatsinghpur had convicted Sk Asif Ali (37) and Sk Akil Ali (38) on November 21, 2022. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on the same day.
The incident occurred at a village under Tirtol police station in Jagatsinghpur district on August 21, 2014. The girl was kidnapped while she was returning home from school after buying chocolates from a shop. The victim was raped in an abandoned house near the village and later murdered.
Considering the state government's plea for confirmation of the trial court’s death sentence and the appeals filed by the two convicts, the high court set aside the conviction of Sk Akil Ali and acquitted him of the charges of rape and murder. The court held that the circumstantial evidence against him was difficult to sustain his conviction.
In the case of Sk Asif Ali, the high court upheld his conviction but commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.
While categorising the case as "rarest of rare cases", the trial court said it warranted capital punishment to meet the ends of justice as the victim was a six-year-old girl.
However, the division bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice RK Patnaik said that there is no cogent evidence that Sk Asif Ali is beyond reform and rehabilitation. Considering all the facts and circumstances, it cannot be said that capital punishment is the only option for the appellant and that the option of imprisonment for life will not suffice and is wholly disproportionate, court mentioned.
In its 106-page judgment the high court ordered Rs 10 lakh compensation for the victim's family as provided under Schedule-II of Odisha Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017, considering the factual scenario and the age of the deceased victim. Earlier, the trial court had ordered a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh for the parents of the deceased.
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