'Not Rarest Of Rare Case': Delhi Court Denies Death Penalty To Child Rape Convict

A Delhi court refused to award the death penalty to a man convicted of raping a four-year-old girl, saying the incident did not fall under the "rarest of rare" category.

Additional Sessions Judge Amit Sahrawat made the observation while hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment to convict Sunny Kumar, and instead sentenced the 22-year-old to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life.

"This court is not of the opinion that the present case falls in the category of rarest of rare cases. Considering the young age and clean past of the convict, the capital sentence is not justifiable in the present case," the court order read.

On April 30, the court convicted Kumar for kidnapping and raping a girl, saying that the child suffered brutal and life-threatening injuries that could only have been caused by penetrative sexual assault.

The court said that the "diabolical" conduct of Kumar showed he posed a serious threat to society and deserved no leniency.

"Although the convict is not being considered for a capital sentence, but still there is no doubt in holding that his misdeeds are diabolical in nature and he does not deserve any kind of leniency and he is required to be kept out of society for as long as possible," the order read.

The court said that the sufferings of the victim cannot even be imagined. Undergoing several surgeries and then remaining bedridden due to surgical constraints is too painful, it said.

"If convict can commit rape of such a small child, then he is a serious threat to society at large and therefore he should be kept behind bars throughout his life," the court said.

The court, however, declined the prosecution's plea seeking the death penalty, observing that the case did not fall under the "rarest of rare" category. It noted that the convict was 22, had no criminal antecedents and had expressed remorse.

The prosecution argued that the convict committed a "monstrous act" on a child aged about four-and-a-half years and sought capital punishment.

The victim's mother told the court that her daughter underwent multiple surgeries and remained on a liquid diet. She said both parents had become unemployed as they had to take turns caring for the child.

The judge observed that the parents had been forced to hold her in their laps in turns because the girl could neither stand nor sit following surgeries.

"When mitigating factors are weighed against the aggravating factors, then it is observed that the mitigating factors are not sufficient to balance the sufferings of victim and her family," the court said.

"It is also considerable that during arguments on sentence, on court query, convict himself admitted his guilt and also stated that at the time of incident he was under the influence of alcohol, otherwise he cannot even think about such kind of offence and also stated that he is remorseful for his misdeeds," it said.

The court sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life under the POCSO Act and awarded Rs 13.5 lakh compensation to the victim.

Since Rs 5 lakh had already been released, it directed the disbursal of the remaining sum through the Delhi State Legal Services Authority for the child's rehabilitation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)