Calcutta High Court Commutes Death Sentence to Life in Sensational Gangrape-Murder Case

The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentences of two men convicted for the gangrape and murder of a five-year-old girl to life imprisonment without remission for 60 years. The court considered socio-economic factors and potential for reformation in reducing the sentence from death to life imprisonment.

The Calcutta High Court has revised the punishment for two men convicted of the brutal gangrape and murder of a five-year-old girl. Initially sentenced to death by the Jhargram sessions court, their sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of remission for 60 years.

Justice Debangsu Basak, leading the division bench, cited the socio-economic backgrounds of the convicts, Fagun Mandi and Rabindra Routh, and the possibility of their reformation as factors in the decision to alter the sentence. The court maintained the seriousness of the crime but acknowledged perspectives that argued for a lesser sentence.

The advocates for the appellants argued that the prosecution's case lacked sufficient evidence to merit a death sentence, eventually persuading the court to impose a life sentence. The prosecution maintained that the crimes were proven beyond reasonable doubt, solidified by the victim's tragic fate discovered three days after her disappearance.

(With inputs from agencies.)