The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a stay on the execution of a 30-year-old man convicted of the rape and murder of a 19-year-old engineering student in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The bench, consisting of Justices Surya Kant, Pankaj Mithal, and Ujjal Bhuyan, called for a translated copy of the trial and high court records that led to the man’s conviction and subsequent death sentence.
The Jharkhand High Court had earlier upheld the trial court’s decision to sentence the man to death, a judgment passed in response to the horrific incident that occurred on December 15, 2016. The victim, a promising engineering student, was raped, strangled with a cable cord and electric wire, doused in lubricant oil, and set on fire in a brutal attack that the convicted man executed with chilling premeditation.
In its ruling, the High Court described the murder as “barbaric” and the act as “horrendous,” confirming the death penalty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The court detailed the calculated nature of the crime, noting that the convicted man had not only prepared for the assault by bringing strangulation tools and accelerants but had also attempted to integrate himself into the victim’s immediate environment by seeking to rent a room in her house and subsequently staying nearby.
The high court emphasized that the autopsy report confirmed a violent sexual assault followed by death due to throttling, concluding that the crime was not the result of a sudden outburst but was “diabolically planned and ruthlessly executed.”
Upon appeal, the Supreme Court, adhering to its standard practice when first hearing a death sentence petition, stayed the execution and requested detailed records from the lower courts. This stay is pending a thorough review of the case details and legal arguments that will likely focus on whether the death penalty is a justified punishment for the convicted man.
