SC commutes man's death sentence to life imprisonment for killing three siblings in Chhattisgarh

The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence awarded to a man accused of abducting and killing three minor siblings in February 2011 in Ratnapur town of Chhattisgarh.

A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit said it was the apex court's opinion that the offence committed by the convict was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance and as per the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the death penalty is not warranted and the same be converted to life imprisonment.

"The Judgment and Order passed by Trial Court and confirmed by the High Court convicting the accused for the offences punishable under Sections 302 (murder) and 364 (abduction) of Indian Penal Code is hereby confirmed. However, the death sentence imposed by the Trial Court, confirmed by the High Court, is converted into life imprisonment," the bench said.

The court said the accused was emotionally disturbed due to the elopement of his wife with the uncle of the deceased and that his children were suffering in the absence of their mother with them.

"The accused was so much disturbed and troubled is also born out from the deposition of one of the witnesses that on mobile the accused told how Shivlal (complainant) is feeling without his children," the bench said.

The apex court also noted that there are no criminal antecedents of the convict and at the time of commission of the offence the accused was 28 years of age and his conduct in prison is reported to be good.

The bench, also comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and M R Shah, also took into account that the convict belongs to a poor family and is the only son of his parents and that he has got an aged mother who is taking care of his two daughters.

The convict, Manoj Suryavanshi, was sentenced to death by a local court here for abducting and killing three minor siblings in February 2011 in Ratnapur town of the district.

According to police, Suryavanshi had kidnapped his neighbour Shivlal Dhivar's children Vijay (8), Ajay (6) and Sakshi (4) on February 11, 2011 when they were returning from school.

The accused took them to a nearby field where he killed them by hitting them with stones. He was arrested the next day.

According to the prosecution, the accused committed the crime to take revenge against Shivlal's brother Shivnath.

Suryavanshi believed that his wife had eloped with Shivnath.

The apex court said it is true that the court must respond to the cry of society and settle what would be the deterrent punishment for an abominable crime.

"It is also equally true that a larger number of criminals go unpunished thereby increasing criminals in the society and law losing its deterrent effect. It is also true that the peculiar circumstances of a given case often results in miscarriage of justice and makes the justice delivery system a suspect; in the ultimate analysis, the society suffers and a criminal get encouraged," the bench said.

It said that sometimes it is stated that only rights of criminals are kept in mind, the victims are forgotten.

The bench said that while imposing the rarest of rare punishment, i.e. death penalty, the court must balance the mitigating and aggravating circumstances of the crime and it would depend upon particular and peculiar facts and circumstances of each case.