In Brief
A five-year-old girl went missing from a neighbour's house on 28 December 2010. Witnesses saw the appellant carrying a child and gunny bag towards a stream. Based on his disclosure statement, the girl's body was recovered from the stream, with evidence of rape and strangulation. The trial court convicted the appellant under Sections 302, 376, 364, 366A and 201 IPC and imposed death sentence. The High Court affirmed both conviction and death sentence. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction based on the unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence. However, it commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, considering the appellant's young age, absence of criminal record, non-premeditated nature of the crime, and satisfactory conduct in prison as mitigating factors. The appellant must serve at least 30 years before being eligible for remission.
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