The Apex Court recently awarded a death sentence to an accused who was involved in a gang rape (along with a co-accused) of a 10 year-old girl. The accuseds were also believed to have murdered the girl and her younger brother by throwing them into a canal. The incident which took place in Coimbatore, involved the accused named Manoharan and one other Mohanakrishnan (the co accused was later shot dead in a police encounter)
While describing the incident as a “heinous” and “cold blooded" crime, the court decided to categorise the case as one of the “rarest of rare" cases hence awarding the death sentence. The Madras High Court reaffirmed the death sentence by the Trial Court. Subsequently an appeal was filed by the accused against the judgment of Hon'ble Madras HC which was heard by a three judge bench comprising Justice Surya Kant, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Sanjeev Khanna.
On Consideration, Justice Nariman, while addressing on behalf of himself and Justice Surya Kant, opinionated that:
"We have no doubt that the trial court and High Court have correctly applied and balanced aggravating circumstances with mitigating circumstances to find that the crime committed was cold-blooded and involves the rape of a minor girl and murder of two children in the most heinous fashion possible."
In furtherance of the same, the judges also made a reference to the recent amendment introduced to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 , stating that:
"In the facts of the present case, there is no doubt that aggravated penetrative sexual assault was committed on the 10-year-old girl by more than one person. The 10-year-old girl child (whowas below 12 years of age) would fall within...the POCSO Act... This judgment is in keeping with the legislature's realisation that such crimes are on the rise and must be dealt with severely."
However, Justice Khanna who held the minority view was of the opinion that inspite of the case being entirely "brutal, ruthless" in nature, the same wouldnot fall under the category of “rarest of rare", instead it should fall under a completely different category of “special cases" and the Appellant should have been directed with sentenced for entire life in the place of death sentence.
Manoharan and co-accused Mohanakrishnan, had picked up the girl and her 7 year-old brother from outside a temple on 29 October, 2010 while they were going to school. They initially tied the hands of both minor siblings and then brutally gang-raped the girl before trying to kill them. After a failed attempt of murdering the both siblings by poisoning, the accused decided to throw them in a canal where both the siblings drowned.
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