Coimbatore child rape-murder: SC reaffirms death penalty for convict, says crime shocks conscience

The Supreme Court Thursday reaffirmed the death penalty of a convict for "horribly" gang-raping a 10-year-old girl and killing her along with her brother in Coimbatore in 2010 saying the is crime so grave that it shocks the conscience of the court and of society.

"It was not in the spur of the moment or a crime of passion; but craftily planned, meticulously executed and with multiple opportunities to cease and desist," the top court said.

It rejected all grounds seeking the review of its earlier verdict and said: "The present case is essentially one where two accused misused societal trust to hold as captive two innocent school-going children, one of whom was brutally raped and sodomised, and thereupon administered poison and finally, drowned by throwing them into a canal."
Rejecting his contentions, the bench said: "We are of the view that the present offence(s) of the Petitioner are so grave as to shock the conscience of this Court and of society and would without doubt amount to rarest of the rare."