Jabalpur, Jun 20 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death penalty of a man convicted of the rape of a four-year-old girl to 25 years' rigorous imprisonment, considering that he was uneducated and came from a poor tribal family.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him in its order passed on Thursday.
A division bench of Justices Vivek Agarwal and Devnarayan Mishra acknowledged that the appellant (name not disclosed by the court) committed a "brutal act" as he raped a child and later throttled her before leaving her for dead.
At the same time, the bench noted that "he is an uneducated youth of 20 years of age and belongs to the tribal community... his parents never tried to give him education and not properly take care of him, therefore he has left his house and was self bread earner and living and working in a Dhaba (restaurant)."
The atmosphere in a Dhaba could not be conducive to a good upbringing, the court said.
Hence, the court commuted his death sentence for the offence punishable under section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act to rigorous imprisonment of 25 years.
The special POCSO court in Khandwa district had sentenced the man to death on April 21, 2023.
As per the prosecution, he abducted the girl from her hut on the night of October 30-31, 2022, and raped her. The girl was found in a mango orchard in an unconscious state.