Kashi Nath Singh @ Kallu Singh vs The State Of Jharkhand

[NON-REPORTABLE]

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

Criminal Appeal Nos. 1100-1101of 2023 (Arising out of SLP (Crl) Nos. 12679-12680 of 2022)

Kashi Nath Singh @ Kallu Singh …Appellant Versus The State of Jharkhand …Respondent

JUDGMENT

Rajesh Bindal, J.

1. The appellant was convicted under Sections 302 and

376 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as ‘the

IPC’) by the Trial Court and punishment of death penalty along

with fine was imposed. As he had been awarded death

sentence, the matter was referred to the High Court of

Jharkhand at Ranchi for confirmation. Simultaneously, the

appellant also filed appeal challenging his conviction and

sentence. Both were heard together. The Division Bench of the

High Court while upholding conviction of the appellant, Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Anita Malhotra Date: 2023.04.20 16:49:18 IST Reason:

modified the sentence. The death sentence was commuted

Page 1 of 6 Criminal Appeal No. 1100-1101 of 2023

into life sentence and it was directed that the appellant shall

remain in jail for whole of his biological life, without any benefit

of remission. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court, the

appellant has filed the present appeal.

2. The facts of the case, as are evident from the order

passed by the High Court, are that a complaint was lodged by

informant, Bikash Kumar Mandal (PW-5), brother of the

deceased girl (aged about 14 years at the time of incident),

about an incident which took place at village Rangamati, Raja

Basti, near Kali Temple, P.S. Baliapur, District Dhanbad on

3.11.2007 at about 10.45 a.m. He claimed that his sister had

gone to take bath in the village pond along with wife and

daughter of his neighbour, Raju Mukherjee (PW-9). At about

9.30 a.m., wife (PW-10) and daughter (PW-16) of Raju

Mukherjee returned, but his sister did not return. On enquiry,

he was informed that his sister had left the pond before them

after taking bath. The informant (PW-5), his mother (PW-11)

and Raju Mukherjee (PW-9) went out in search of his sister

towards Kali Temple. They saw the appellant assaulting his

sister by a stone in the field of Jag Bandhu Ram. She was

bleeding profusely. Upon seeing them, the appellant fled away

Page 2 of 6 Criminal Appeal No. 1100-1101 of 2023

from the spot. They found his sister dead. There were number

of injuries. Her face was entirely defaced and there were no

clothes on her body. Her skirt, top, panty, earrings, bangles,

mala and payal were found at a distance of about 20-30 feet.

On the basis of the aforesaid complaint, FIR No. 63/2007 dated

3.11.2007 was registered under Sections 376 and 302/34 IPC.

3. From the post mortem report of the deceased, it was

found that her hymen was lacerated, spermatozoa was found

on testing of vaginal swab, frontal bone of the skull was found

fractured into pieces, besides other grievous injuries. The

cause of death was found to be the injuries suffered by the

deceased on head and brain, which were caused by hard and

blunt object and a forceful sexual assault before her death.

4. Considering the aforesaid report and the

unimpeachable evidence of the eye-witnesses, the appellant

was convicted by the Trial Court. Considering the case to be

falling in the category of rarest of rare, the Trial Court proposed

to award death sentence. The High Court, in appeal filed by the

appellant and on a reference by the Trial Court for confirmation

of the death sentence, modified the same to life imprisonment.

Page 3 of 6 Criminal Appeal No. 1100-1101 of 2023

5. Notice in the appeal was issued confined only to the

direction of the High Court that the life sentence awarded to

the appellant shall be for the whole of his biological life, without

any benefit of remission.

6. The argument raised by the learned counsel for the

appellant was that there is no reasoning given by the High

Court that there are no chances of his reformation. As there is

no criminal history of the appellant, there are chances of his

reformation. Therefore, this court may modify the sentence

awarded to the appellant while granting him benefit of

remission, to whatever he is entitled to. He has further

submitted that if the benefit of remission cannot be granted,

the sentence awarded to the appellant may be reduced to

certain limited period instead of whole of his biological life.

Reference was made to the decision of this Court in Shiva

Kumar alias Shivamurthy v. State of Karnataka1.

7. On the other hand, learned counsel for the

respondent submitted that it is a case of brutal rape and

murder of a 14 year old girl. The appellant, after committing

the rape, was in the process of killing her by hitting her head

1 2023 SCC Online SC 345

Page 4 of 6 Criminal Appeal No. 1100-1101 of 2023

and body with stone. He was trying to deface her face so that

she could not be recognised. He was seen doing so by family

members of the deceased when they went out for search.

Keeping in view the mindset of the appellant, he does not

deserve any further leniency in sentencing as the High Court

had already commuted the death sentence to life

imprisonment.

8. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused

the record.

9. We need not go into the facts of the controversy in

detail for the reason that there is no challenge to the conviction

of the appellant. The fact remains that there was rape and

murder of a 14 year old girl. The guilt of the appellant was

proved beyond reasonable doubt on account of testimony of

direct eye-witnesses. The sentence awarded by the High Court

is life imprisonment for the whole of biological life of the

appellant without any remission. Though notice was issued

only to consider whether the appellant could be extended the

benefit of remission, however, considering the severity of the

offence committed by the appellant, we do not find any merit in

that submission. However, still considering the fact that the

Page 5 of 6 Criminal Appeal No. 1100-1101 of 2023

appellant was 26 years of age when the offence was committed

and there may be chances of his reformation, but still undue

leniency in sentencing shakes public confidence in the criminal

justice system, the deterrent effect may not be there. The

rights of the victim and his family members are also to be

considered.

10. Keeping in view the totality of circumstances, the

sentence of life imprisonment for the whole of the biological life

of the appellant, without any benefit of remission deserves to

be modified to the fixed term sentence for a period of 30 years

without any benefit of remission so that prime period of his life

is spent in jail. The appellant shall be released from jail only

after undergoing full sentence of 30 years, excluding the period

of imprisonment already undergone.

11. The present appeals are disposed of accordingly.

_____________, J.

(Abhay S. Oka)

____________, J.

(Rajesh Bindal) New Delhi April 20, 2023

// NR, PM //

Page 6 of 6