SC upholds death sentence awarded to man for raping, murdering 2-yr-old girl

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the death sentence awarded to a man for raping and murdering a two-year-old girl in 2012 saying he had no control over his "carnal desires" and surpassed all natural, social and legal limits just to satiate his sexual hunger.

A three-judge bench, by a majority verdict of 2:1, said the man had "ruthlessly finished" a life which was yet to bloom and his act of committing unnatural offence with the two-year-old minor exhibits "a dirty and perverted mind, showcasing a horrifying tale of brutality".

While justices R F Nariman and Surya Kant affirmed the death sentence awarded to Ravi by dismissing his appeal against the Bombay High Court's January 2016 judgement, Justice R Subhash Reddy modified it to life imprisonment till his natural death.

"Having said that, it may be seen that the victim was barely a two-year- old baby whom the appellant (Ravi) kidnapped and apparently kept on assaulting over 4-5 hours till she breathed her last. The appellant who had no control over his carnal desires surpassed all natural, social and legal limits just to satiate his sexual hunger," Justice Surya Kant, writing the verdict for himself and Justice Nariman, said.

"The appellant instead of showing fatherly love, affection and protection to the child against the evils of the society, rather made her the victim of lust," the majority verdict said.

Justice Reddy, who agreed with the view of the majority judgement in upholding his conviction under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including rape, murder and unnatural offence, said it is not a fit case to award death penalty.

"As such, it is clear that on the day of occurrence, he (Ravi) was under influence of liquor and he is aged about 25 years and he had no previous history of any crimes and in absence of any evidence from the side of the prosecution to show that he cannot be reformed and rehabilitated to bring in to the mainstream of the society, the judgments relied on by counsel for the appellant, fully support the case of the appellant, to modify the sentence," Justice Reddy said in his judgement.

Referring to the evidence, he said that conviction was mainly based on circumstantial evidence and it was a ground to modify the death sentence to life term.

According to the prosecution, a missing complaint was lodged by the girl's father in March 2012 and when the police reached at the residence of Ravi, the doors were found to be locked.

When the police broke open the door, he was found there and the girl was lying in an unconscious condition. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared brought dead by doctors.