New Delhi: Dismissing the appeal against death sentence, the Supreme Court Bench rejected the plea of the appellants that they were young with no criminal antecedents and there was possibility of reformation and that they should be awarded lesser punishment. The Bench said, “age alone cannot be a paramount consideration as a mitigating circumstance. Similarly, family background of the accused also could not be said to be a mitigating circumstance. As Accused No. 1 is concerned, it has been contended that he was happily married and his wife was pregnant at the relevant time. ”
The Bench said, “The heinous offence of gangrape of an innocent and helpless young woman by those in whom she had reposed trust, followed by a cold-blooded murder and calculated attempt of cover-up is one such instance of a crime which shocks and repulses the collective conscience of the community and the court.”The Bench said, “This court has no hesitation in holding that this case falls within the category of ‘rarest of rare’, which merits death penalty and none else. The collective conscience of the community is so shocked by this crime that imposing alternate sentence would not meet the ends of justice. Rather, it would tempt other potential offenders to commit such crime and get away with the lesser punishment.”
The Bench pointed out that the accused did not show any regret. It is clear that both the accused have been proved to be a menace to society which strongly negates the probability that they can be reformed.
