In Brief
A 40-50 year old man was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl, then disposing her body in a well. The trial court and high court imposed death penalty based on circumstantial evidence, DNA matching, and medical findings. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction but commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment without remission. The Court held that while the crime was grave and proved beyond reasonable doubt, residual doubts from incomplete forensic evidence and witness inconsistencies meant the case fell short of the 'rarest of rare' threshold. The judgment applies a special sentencing theory allowing life without remission as an alternative when capital punishment seems inappropriate but ordinary imprisonment inadequate.
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