Court sentences man to life imprisonment in murder case

A court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment in a murder case while ruling out the death penalty, saying that the offence did not fall into the category of rarest of rare cases.

The court on July 26 convicted the accused holding that it was a case of culpable homicide, with such knowledge that the injury being inflicted could have caused death in normal circumstances. According to the prosecution, the accused assaulted the victim with an iron rod on January 12, 2003, and the victim died after four days due to head injuries. The convict Vipul Kumar is sentenced to undergo life imprisonment for committing an offence punishable under Section 302(murder) of the Indian Penal Code, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said in an order dated September 5.

The judge further directed the accused to pay a fine of Rs 4 lakh, out of which Rs 3.75 lakh was payable to the legal heirs of the deceased. The court said the death sentence could not be awarded as the present case did not fall into the category of rarest of rare cases. On perusal of the record, I find that the incident, wherein convict Vipul Kumar committed the murder of deceased Sushil, does not have such nature, so as to shake the conscience of a reasonable person, the judge said.

The judge further said that undoubtedly, it was an unfortunate incident, but it is to be borne in mind that death was caused by inflicting a single iron rod on the head of the deceased, and therefore, it can not be said that this murder was committed in a gruesome manner. Nothing that the deceased had left behind old parents and a small daughter, the court said that once a life has been taken away, the killer remains under debt of the family of the deceased and as a measure and gesture of repentance, such person must come forward willingly to at least provide compensation to legal heirs of the deceased.

The court also said that it was not necessary to pass separate sentence against the accused for conviction under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt)of the IPC, keeping in view the fact that four co-convicts for this offence, have been admonished by this court. The court released four other accused in the case after due admonition, saying that the case pertained to a quarrel between two families and both parties while defending themselves in court would have learnt sufficient lessons.

Facing trial before the court in itself is a lesson and therefore, the same also weighs in the consideration for sentencing, the court said adding, The incident, in this case, should not be allowed to have its effect anymore, and it is better for both the parties to move forward with a positive mind. Hence, in order to facilitate the same and keeping in view the minor nature of the offence under Section 323 of the IPC, I deem it fit to release convicts Kumar Pal, Sanjay, Prakashwati, and Dharamwati, thereby admonishing them in the present case, the judge said.