Bhubaneswar: Observing that ‘every saint has a past and every sinner has a future’, the Orissa High Court Monday commuted the death sentence awarded by a lower court to a man for rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Cuttack in 2018 to life imprisonment. A division bench of Justices Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Radha Krishna Pattanaik reduced the capital punishment awarded to Mohammad Mustak by the 3rd Additional Sessions Judge-cumPresiding Officer of Children’s Court in Cuttack, who had convicted him under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 376AB (rape on a woman under 12 years) and 302 (murder) of IPC and 6 of the POCSO Act.
According to the case details, the minor girl went missing from her home under Salipur police limits in Cuttack April 21, 2018 evening. A few hours later, locals found her lying naked on the verandah of a nearby school and shifted her to a local hospital after informing the family.
As her health deteriorated, she was referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, where she remained in coma and succumbed a few days later. On a complaint filed by the victim’s grandfather, the police, during the investigation, found that Mustak had taken the minor to a shop in the locality to buy her chocolates before taking her towards the school. The victim’s brother also saw Mustak following her before the incident. Taking into account forensic evidence and medical reports, the trial court concluded that the victim had been subjected to rape. It awarded the death penalty for the offences under Sections 302 and 376AB of the IPC. The court also awarded jail term to the convict and slapped a penalty on him for an offence under Sections 363 of IPC.
However, no separate sentence was awarded for offence under Section 6 of the POCSO Act. Challenging the trial court’s conviction, Mustak moved HC. In its order, the HC observed that the injuries inflicted upon the victim by Mustak were fatal and death was proved to have been caused due to coma as a result of blunt trauma injury to the head. “Thus, the commission of offence under Section 302 of IPC was proved against the appellant,” the bench observed. However, the HC was of the view that there is no clinching evidence on record to convict Mustak under Section 376AB of IPC or 6 of the POCSO Act.
Instead, it was convinced that offence under Section 354 of IPC was squarely made out against Mustak. So far as the question of imposition of capital punishment was concerned, the HC held that no material was produced to show that the possibility of reformation had been foreclosed. The HC held Mustak guilty for murder. But his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. However, a rider was imposed that he shall undergo a minimum sentence of 20 years before which he shall not be eligible for consideration of remission. The HC also sentenced him to undergo five years of RI under Section 354 of IPC and seven years of RI under Section 363. The HC ordered the District Legal Services Authority, Cuttack to grant compensation to the parents of the victim under the Odisha Victim Compensation Scheme, 2017, if the same has not already been granted to them according to the trial court’s order