Not Rarest of Rare: MP High Court Commutes Death Sentence in Toddler's Rape-Murder, Acquits Two Co-Accused

The child's mother, who was living with the appellant's family, left her asleep in his house on the night of 01.03.2023 and returned to find her injured and unconscious (paras 9, 24-26). The child died in hospital days later; the post-mortem found a skull fracture and vaginal and anal injuries indicating forceful penetrative sexual assault (paras 10-11). The Special Judge (POCSO Act), Budhar, convicted the appellant under Sections 302, 201 and 506 Part-II IPC and Section 5(m)/6 of the POCSO Act and sentenced him to death, convicted two co-accused of intimidation and acquitted a fourth accused (paras 1-2, 15).

The Bench accepted that the treating doctor, who found no sign of sexual abuse, and the post-mortem doctors contradicted each other, and that no male DNA was found on the victim's articles (paras 83, 86). But the first medico-legal report itself recorded an abrasion in the anal region, which the post-mortem findings corroborated (paras 92-94). Since the mother's evidence placed the appellant inside the room where the child lay, Section 106 of the Evidence Act could be invoked, as explained in Nagendra Sah v. State of Bihar, and his conviction could not be faulted (paras 89-90, 94). On sentence, applying Bachan Singh and Mukesh, the Bench weighed the brutality inflicted on an infant against his lack of criminal antecedents, his age of about 32, his poor rural background, his normal conduct in jail and his social boycott for marrying outside his caste (paras 96-97). With no evidence that he was a professional or habitual offender, and reform not ruled out, the case was not 'rarest of rare' (para 99). The co-accused's convictions fell because the FIR mentioned no threat by them and the threats were attributed to the appellant alone (paras 100-101).