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Digambar vs. The State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 445Decided 28 Apr 2023
Criminal Appeal Nos. 221-222 of 2022
B.R. Gavai · Vikram Nath · Sanjay Karol · B.R. Gavai's

Background

Pooja, who was married to another man, had a five-year love affair with Govind; her brother Digambar was aware of this. When Pooja went missing from her matrimonial home, Digambar tracked her down at Govind's sister's house, initially assured the couple he would help get them married, and then led them away on his motorcycle. En route, he picked up a sickle he had hidden, and when the couple refused to be dissuaded from their relationship, he fatally attacked Govind and then Pooja with the sickle, later himself lodging an FIR confessing to the killings. The Trial Court convicted Digambar under Sections 302/201/120-B IPC and sentenced him to death, while co-accused Mohan (who accompanied him) was convicted under related provisions and given life imprisonment; the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) confirmed both the conviction and the death sentence, leading to appeals before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of both accused under Section 302 IPC, finding the evidence (including the accused's own confession and his failure under Section 106 of the Evidence Act to explain what happened after he led the deceased away) sufficient. However, on sentencing, the Court reviewed a line of precedents on the "rarest of rare" doctrine, noting that even honour-killing cases involving multiple deaths have sometimes been commuted from death to life imprisonment, and emphasised that life imprisonment is the rule and death the exception, requiring consideration of both the gravity of the crime and the possibility of reform. It found that Digambar was young (about 25), had no criminal antecedents, inflicted only a single fatal injury on each victim (rather than acting with extreme brutality), and had favourable probation and jail-conduct reports describing him as well-behaved with leadership qualities, with the underlying provocation traced to social/caste pressure over the couple's relationship. On this basis, the Court held the case did not meet the "rarest of rare" threshold, commuted Digambar's death sentence to life imprisonment while maintaining his conviction, and dismissed the appeal of co-accused Mohan, leaving his life sentence undisturbed.

Lesson Learnt

A death sentence is reserved for the rarest of rare cases even in brutal honour-related killings. Courts must weigh the offender's age, criminal history, conduct in custody, capacity for reform, and the precise manner of the crime, not just its horrific nature, before capital punishment can be justified; life imprisonment remains the norm.

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

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