HC commutes death sentence of rapist, awards 25 years jail

The Delhi High Court on Thursday commuted the death sentence awarded to a 24-year-old youth for raping and murdering his minor neighbour but directed that he be kept behind the bars for 25 years in order to "guard the society from him". A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta commuted to life imprisonment the capital punishment given to convict Bharat Kumar in 2013, saying though he is a sexually dangerous person, he is "not a dangerous sexual predator" and the solution to the present case is not to remove him from the world.

"The sexual offenders can be classified as criminal sexual psychopaths who are least dangerous, sexually dangerous persons and dangerous and violent sexual predators and offenders who lack empathy and remorse. "The first category does not inflict any physical pain on the victim, the second category while perpetrating the crime cause grotesque suffering in the victim and the last category causes not only grotesque suffering in the victim but even defiles the victim after the crime.

"Bharat Kumar falls in the second category who not only perpetrated crime but caused grotesque suffering on the victim by raping a minor girl of tender age of 6 years and thereafter committing her murder by smashing her head with a stone. "Thus, Bharat Kumar is a sexually dangerous person and not a dangerous sexual predator and offender. Hence, the solution to the present case is not by removing Bharat Kumar from the earth but guarding the society against him so that he does not act dangerously to other innocent lives," the court said.

The court also said "no remission would be granted to him before completion of 25 years of actual imprisonment" and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him. The fine, if recovered, will be paid to the parents of the victim as compensation, it said.