Supreme Court of India on Friday commuted death penalty awarded to Rajesh Daware and Arvind Singh, two murderers of Yug Chandak, into life imprisonment without any remission at least for next 25 years. The Apex Court found both the accused guilty on all counts and rejected their arguments about being young and without criminal antecedents, but chose to commute the rare double death penalty awarded by trial court and confirmed by Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court into life imprisonment.

 

While pronouncing the verdict on Friday through video-conferencing, a bench consisting of Justice Uday Lalit, Justice Indu Malhotra and Justice Hemant Gupta made it clear that “life means till the end of the life with the further observation and direction that there shall not be any remission till the accused completes 25 years of imprisonment.” On February 4, 2016 the trial court had awarded a rare double death penalty to the accused duo for gruesome murder of 8-year-old innocent Yug Chandak kidnapped for ransom. On May 5, 2016, the High Court had confirmed the sentence awarded by the trial court.

 

Both the accused had been held guilty of kidnapping Yug for ransom under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and for murder of the child under Section 302 of the IPC, and were sentenced to double death penalty. Further, the trial court had awarded them life imprisonment for hatching criminal conspiracy, with fine of Rs 10,000/- each. The accused Rajesh was employed as receptionist with Dr Mukesh Chandak, father of the child. The other accused was his friend.

 

Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the State of Maharashtra strongly urged the Apex Court to maintain death penalty of both the convicts and described their existence as threat to society. Listing the aggravating circumstances like brutality, cold-blooded manner in which a helpless child was eliminated, Rohatgi claimed that the crime created fear psychosis in the society and safety of every child stepping out of house had become a matter of concern for entire society. He demanded to maintain death sentence for Rajesh Daware and Arvind Singh, the perpetrators involved in kidnapping and diabolical murder of eight-year-old Yug Chandak.

 

Adv Dr Yug Chaudhari appearing for the appellants claimed that the entire conviction was based on very weak evidence. Denying the role of the accused in the murder, he claimed that they were falsely implicated and claimed that prosecution had planted and tutored the witnesses. The appellants also questioned the fairness of identification parade and claimed that it was not conducted as per guidelines in criminal manual. The appellant-convicts also raised question-marks over reliability of CCTV camera footage recovered from petrol pump on Koradi road and apprehended possibility of tampering and stated that authentication certificate as per Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act was not attached.

 

The Apex Court chose to reject each of the feeble defence raised by the appellants and found the manner of commission of murder as “extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner” and held them to be aggravating factors. But, applying the rarest of rare doctrine, the Apex Court ruled that the present case fell short of the rarest of rare test where a death sentence alone deserved to be awarded to the appellants, and awarded life-long imprisonment to these two murderers.

 

While confirming the double death penalty, the High Court had clearly held that the prosecution had proved the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt and the trial court’s verdict warranted no interference. The investigation stood corroborated by DNA test, chemical analysis and scientific evidence placed by the prosecution on record. Emphasising that this was a rarest of rare case, both according to the public at large and the persons holding judicial powers, the High Court had referred to public outrage against this heinous and diabolic crime, which spread terror amongst parents of school-going children, making them unsure about they coming back home.

 

The Principal District Judge, who conducted the trial, had also refused to show any leniency to both the accused

citing their cruel mentality, greed for money, rage and no value for human life as compelling reasons for handing down death penalty to accused duo who hatched a deliberate and well-planned conspiracy after thoughtful process that led to killing of an innocent child.

 

Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi was assisted by Adv Rajendra Daga and Adv Rahil Mirza who represented the aggrieved parents. Adv Dr Yug Chaudhari and Adv Mir Nagman Ali represented the appellants.