Jabalpur: School teacher Mahendra Singh Gond (28) convicted for raping a four-year-old-girl has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death penalty, February 11, Jabalpur Central Jail’s law officer Ashok Singh said Thursday.
A trial court in Satna had earlier this month issued a ‘death warrant’ against Gond after the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed his death sentence, January 25, Singh informed. The trial court had sent the death warrant, fixing his execution for March 2, 2019, through an e-mail to the Central Jail earlier this month.
The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President, Singh said, adding the death warrant will be executed only after all the available legal remedies are exhausted.
The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age).
Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, Singh said.
According to the prosecution, the convict had raped the minor girl after kidnapping her from her house, July 1, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes. The girl suffered severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital.
Gond was later arrested by the police and a chargesheet was filed against him.
Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact a law in December 2017, providing for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age. The Centre had brought an amendment in the IPC to punish the rapists of girls below 12 years of age with death last year.
PTI