'Possibility Of Reformation Can't Be Ruled Out': Supreme Court Commutes Death Penalty Of Man Convicted For Murder & Sexual Assault Of 4 Year Old

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, considering the possibility of reformation as per behavioural and mental assessment reports, converted the death penalty of a convict guilty of sexual assault and murder of a 4-year-old child, to an imprisonment sentence. The Court thus concluded that the failure of any explanation on the part of the accused adds to the chain of circumstances proving against him as per S. 106 of the Evidence Act. The evidence of the circumstance, simpliciter, that the accused pointed out to the police officer, the place where the dead body of the kidnapped boy was found and on their pointing out the body was exhumed, would be admissible as conduct under Section 8 irrespective of the fact whether the statement made by the accused contemporaneously with or antecedent to such conduct falls within the purview of Section 27 or not as held by this Court in Prakash Chand v. State " The blood group O on the clothes of the deceased matched with that of the accused. Thus the court reduced the death sentence of the accused to a sentence of imprisonment for 25 years as "the present is not a case where it can be said that the possibility of reformation is completely ruled out."