SC commutes death penalty of 2 convicts to life imprisonment in minor kidnapping, murder case

The Supreme Court on Friday commuted the death penalty of two convicts to life imprisonment and said that there shall not be any remission till they complete 25 years of jail sentence in connection with a case of kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old child.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, passed the judgment on the appeal filed by two convicts -- Rajesh Daware and Arvind Singh -- who had kidnapped one Yug Chandak, son of a doctor, named Mukesh Chandak.

"The motive of the accused persons -- Rajesh Daware and Arvind Singh -- was to become rich by not doing hard work but by demanding ransom after kidnapping a young, innocent boy of eight years. We are of the view that the present case falls short of the 'rarest of rare' cases where a death sentence alone deserves to be awarded to the appellants," the top court said in its judgment.

According to the prosecution, the victim was kidnapped and murdered by Daware and Singh on September 1, 2014. They had executed the crime to take revenge against Chandak who had dismissed Daware (then 19), an employee in the doctor's hospital for misappropriating money.

Chandak had also reprimanded Daware for scolding and slapping Yug who was playing a video game on a hospital computer. Daware hatched a criminal conspiracy with Singh, then 21, and kidnapped and killed Yug.

"The cause of justice will be effectively served by invoking the concept of special sentencing as evolved by this court in the cases of Swamy Shraddananda and Sriharan. The judgment of the Trial Court and confirmed by the High Court convicting the accused under Sections 302 (Murder) and 364A (Kidnapping) is hereby confirmed," the apex court said.

It also said, the death sentence imposed by the Trial Court, confirmed by the High Court, is converted into life imprisonment.

It also made it clear and directed that life means till the end of the life with further observations that there shall not be any remission till the convicts complete 25 years of their jail sentence.

( With inputs from ANI )