"He Was Kind Enough To Leave The Prosecutrix Alive" Remark Was Inadvertent Mistake: MP HC Modifies Its Controversial Judgment

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has modified its earlier Judgment dated October 18, 2022, where it had observed that the rape convict "was kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive" while commuting his sentence.

"It is apparent that the aforesaid mistake is obviously inadvertent in the context, as this court has already held the act of the appellant as demonic.", the bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar and Justice Satyendra Kumar Singh observed while modifying the said Judgment.

The Court replaced its earlier observation "…however, considering the fact that he was kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive,…" to "…however, considering the fact that he did not cause any other physical injury to the victim…"

This comes after the Madhya Pradesh High Court was criticized for observing that the rape convict was kind enough to leave the prosecutrix alive while commuting his life imprisonment to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

The Court has held that it was an inadvertent mistake.

In this case, the accused was convicted by the Trial Court under Section 376(2)(F) of Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 4-year-old.

The Court has observed thus in its modified judgment while commuting the life imprisonment-

"In such circumstances, this Court does not find any error in appreciation of evidence by the trail Court and considering the demonic act of the appellant who appears to have no respect for the dignity of a woman and has the propensity to commit sexual offence even with a girl child aged 4 years, this Court does not find it to be a fit case where the sentence can be reduced to the sentence already undergone by him, however, considering the fact that he did not cause any other physical injury to the victim, this court is of the opinion that the life imprisonment can be reduced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment. Accordingly, the criminal appeal is partly allowed and the appellant be made to suffer the period of 20 years in accordance with law."

Cause Title- Ramu @ Ramsingh v. State of M.P

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