The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of raping and murdering a five-month-old infant, directing that he will instead remain in prison for the rest of his natural life without any possibility of remission.
A bench of Justice Rajneesh Kumar and Justice Rajiv Singh delivered the judgment while examining the death reference sent by the trial court and hearing the appeal filed by the convict, Premchand alias Pappu Dixit. The sessions court had awarded him the death penalty on September 30, 2021.
The High Court upheld the trial court’s finding on guilt, noting that the evidence on record firmly established the man’s involvement. The judges pointed to the recovery of the accused’s shirt button and three strands of his hair from the spot where the child was found, which corroborated the prosecution’s case.
While maintaining the conviction, the court concluded that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty. The judges recorded that the accused had no prior criminal history and was himself the father of a young child aged about three to four years. They also noted the absence of evidence suggesting a pre-planned or pre-meditated intent to commit the crime.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on February 16, 2020, within the jurisdiction of Madiyaon police station in Lucknow. The infant had accompanied her parents to a relative’s wedding at the SR Marriage Lawn, where the accused, who was her cousin, was also present. He allegedly took the child from her mother’s arms under the pretext of feeding her and disappeared. When he failed to return, the family began searching.
The child was later found in nearby bushes in a grievously injured condition. She was rushed to KGMU, where doctors declared her dead.
Upholding the conviction but altering the sentence, the High Court ruled that the nature of the offence called for the severest form of life imprisonment. It clarified that Premchand will remain incarcerated for the entirety of his life without remission.
