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The Orissa High Court has at long last chosen not to hang a man blamed for killing a 16-year-old young lady to converting the death sentence to life imprisonment. A single judge was called upon to decide the quantum of punishment as the judges of division bench had different view on the question that whether the case falls in the category of 'rarest of rare' class or not.
In a 'split' judgment delivered by the division bench of the high court in November 2015, answering the 'death reference' from trial court, one of the judges observed that 'it is an instance of merciless murder of a young adult around sixteen years by infliction of twelve number of wounds on her neck by a sharp cutting weapon, death sentence is just and fair. The other judge stressing the youthful age of the accused with no criminal background opined that burden of sentence of death isn't called for and hence life imprisonment would be sufficient.
Referring to more than twelve judgments of the apex court on the issue of life imprisonment, the judge observed that the accused was 'infatuated and was attracted towards the deceased and was disturbed because of the passive actions towards him'. The court additionally observed that the accused was a bachelor, a truck driver, and had to maintain his family. Further he has no such criminal background and that the felonious act was not planned as such. Converting the sentence to life imprisonment, the court observed that mercilessness of the act conferred isn't the sole criteria for referring the case in the class of "rarest of rare" cases; it must be one of extreme brutality and extraordinary circumstances to avoid the criticism. The case does not fall inside the classification of rarest of rare cases.
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