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B. Kumar v. Inspector of Police, C.B.C.I.D.

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal Nos. 980-981 of 2013)Decided 27 Oct 2014
Criminal Appeal Nos. 980-981 of 2013
Chief Justice H.L. Dattu · Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

Kumar entered a house where he had previously worked as a mason and attacked three children. He raped one girl, killed her brother, seriously injured the two surviving girls and stole jewellery. The trial court convicted him of the resulting offences and imposed a death sentence, which the High Court confirmed.

Decision Breakdown

The Court upheld all the convictions, accepting the survivors' testimony, medical evidence and recovery of stolen jewellery. It partly allowed the appeals by replacing the death sentence for murder with imprisonment for the remainder of Kumar's life, while retaining the other sentences. Although the crimes were grave, the lower courts had not adequately examined the circumstances of the offender, his possibility of reform or the special reasons required for death. The Court considered the killing's circumstances and the absence of evidence of further crimes during the six years before his arrest, and held that this case did not satisfy the exceptional sentencing threshold.

Lesson Learnt

Proof of guilt and the choice of punishment require separate consideration. Even after a grave crime is proved, a death sentence requires examination of both the crime and the offender; replacing it with life imprisonment leaves the convictions intact.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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