Child abduction and murder: HC commutes death

  • | Monday | 18th February, 2019

Hence, we set aside the death sentence and award life imprisonment. The appellants must serve a minimum of thirty years in jail without remission, before consideration of their case for premature release. The duo was accused of kidnapping the boy from outside his house in Visnagar and killing him on March 17, 2012. The court had found the nature of crime “inhuman” as, the boy was buried while he was still alive after his throat was slit with a blade. However, it would be subject to the clemency power of the Executive.”

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Monday commuted death sentence to minimum 30-year imprisonment for two persons for abduction and murder of a five-year-old boy in Visnagat town in north Gujarat in March 2012.On March 17, 2016, trial court at Visnagar imposed capital punishment on Akshay Patel and Kuldeep Panchal after holding them guilty of murdering Maharsh alias Bholu (5), son of local businessman Pratik Patel. The duo was accused of kidnapping the boy from outside his house in Visnagar and killing him on March 17, 2012. The court had found the nature of crime “inhuman” as, the boy was buried while he was still alive after his throat was slit with a blade. The accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from the child’s father.As the state government sought confirmation from the high court for the death penalty , Patel and Panchal appealed against their conviction as well as against the severity of punishment before the court, a bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice A C Rao concluded that the case does not fall in the “rarest of the rare” category.While reducing the punishment, the judges said, “We are of the view that the case on hand does not warrant death penalty. At the same time, commuting death penalty to mere life sentence will also not be in the interest of justice.” With this observation, the HC imposed imprisonment of 30 years on them and spared them of capital punishment.The court observed that deciding the quantum of punishment in a murder of a small child is really difficult task for a court, “…for listening the silent cry of the child, justice would be an impossibility. The gruesome, brutal, and inhumane murder of the child, whose ambitions have been aborted and life aflamed, calls for a very severe punishment though not of death penalty.”After considering the mitigating circumstances for deciding the quantum of punishment, the judges said, “We are of the view that in spite of the fact that the appellants had committed a heinous crime and murdered an innocent, helpless and defenceless boy aged four years and five months, they are liable to be punished severely, but, it is not a case which falls within the category of the rarest of the rare cases. Hence, we set aside the death sentence and award life imprisonment. The appellants must serve a minimum of thirty years in jail without remission, before consideration of their case for premature release. However, it would be subject to the clemency power of the Executive.”

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