In Brief
A 5-year-old girl disappeared after being taken from a neighbor's house by the appellant. Based on circumstantial evidence—including witness testimony that the appellant was seen carrying the child toward a stream, recovery of her body from the stream pursuant to the appellant's disclosure statement, and medical evidence of rape and strangulation—the courts convicted him under Sections 302, 376, 364, 366A, and 201 IPC. The Sessions Court imposed death sentence; the High Court affirmed. The Supreme Court upheld conviction but commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, finding mitigating factors (young age, no criminal record, satisfactory prison conduct, weak economic background, non-premeditated crime) sufficient to reject capital punishment, with a direction that the appellant undergo at least 30 years of actual imprisonment before any remission.
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