Today, On 3rd December, The Supreme Court stayed the death sentence of a man convicted for the brutal rape and murder of a student in Ranchi. The accused had been sentenced to death by a lower court, but the apex court intervened to examine the case in detail. The decision provides temporary relief to the convict, pending further legal review.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court stayed the death sentence of a 30-year-old man convicted of the rape and murder of a 19-year-old engineering student in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Pankaj Mithal, and Ujjal Bhuyan requested the translated records from both the trial court and the high court.
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The bench stated,
“Death sentence awarded shall remain stayed. The registry to acquisition records from the trial court and the high court along with the soft copy.”
On September 9, the Jharkhand High Court upheld the death sentence for Rahul Kumar, alias Rahul Raj, who is from Nawada district in Bihar. The brutal murder occurred on December 15, 2016, when the young woman raped, strangled, and subsequently set on fire. In December 2019, the trial court sentenced Kumar to death.
The high court noted,
“Life of a bright young girl aged 19 years who was studying in an engineering college was snuffed out in a most barbaric manner, as established by the post mortem examination report duly proved by the doctors who formed the Medical Board to conduct the autopsy over the dead body of the victim.”
The court highlighted that Kumar had come prepared with a cable cord and electric wire for strangulation, as well as three jerkins of lubricant oil to set her ablaze after the crime.
The court described the violence of the act,
“Strangulation was so intense that cable cord and electric wire got embedded in the neck of the victim. Thereafter, he poured lubricant oil over the body and set her on fire. All this was done on a helpless victim, by this appellant with whom the victim had no past enmity, and after the act, he simply slipped out and absconded.”
The high court concluded that the findings from the post mortem examination confirmed violent rape followed by throttling.
Adding that evidence indicated Kumar had stalked the victim, attempted to rent a room in her house, and ultimately stayed in a nearby temple complex, the court asserted,
“This is not a case where crime was the outcome of sudden spurt of passion, but was diabolically planned and ruthlessly executed,”
India’s legal system has traditionally included capital punishment for specific serious crimes. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860 outlined the death penalty for offenses such as murder, waging war against the state, and certain types of kidnapping and dacoity.
According to Section 354(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, judges are required to provide “special reasons” when imposing a death sentence, underscoring its application in the “rarest of rare” cases.
In 2023, the Indian government introduced the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to replace the IPC, with the goal of modernizing and updating the criminal justice framework. The BNS retains the death penalty for several serious offenses.
Additionally, the BNS introduces new offenses and revises existing ones to reflect modern societal norms and challenges. For example, it explicitly criminalizes organized crime and terrorist activities, prescribing severe penalties, including capital punishment, based on the gravity of the crime.