Three jailed for life for gang rape, murder of 3-yr old girl

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for the remainder of their lives for the diabolic and brutal gang rape and murder of a three-year-old girl.

A bench headed by Justice Mukta Gupta, while dealing with appeals by the three convicts against the trial court order of conviction and sentence, said that the death sentence was not awarded to them and the sentence of life which would ordinarily be up to fourteen years would be highly inadequate, unjust and unfair to the victim.

The court observed that the appellants were convicted of brutally mutilating her private parts and smothering her and imprisonment for the remainder of natural life would be an appropriate sentence in the present case.

Sentence of life being a sentence for the natural life reserving the right of the executive to grant remissions, this Court would be competent to award the sentence for remainder of the life to the appellants. Hence, imprisonment of life for the remainder of life to the appellants would be an appropriate sentence in the facts of the case, said the court also comprising Justice Mini Pushkarna.

In exercise of its appellate jurisdiction and in view of the diabolic and brutal manner in which rape with the murder of a three-year-old child was committed, this Court deems it fit to award the same sentence i.e. the remainder of the life for offences punishable under Sections 376(2) and 302 IPC, said the court in its recent order while upholding the conviction of the appellants for various offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The FIR in the present case was registered in 2012 after the dead body of the minor victim was found by an MCD sweeper in a drain.

The court recorded that the post-mortem clearly showed that an offence of rape with the murder of the deceased child was committed.

The trial court had also awarded the sentence of life imprisonment for the remainder of the natural life to the three appellants.