Supreme Court :-

In a major verdict, the Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 7-year-old child to life imprisonment. Supreme Court stated that in an important decision as such, a convict should be sentenced to death only when all the hopes of his reform are over.

 

A bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice PS Narasimha on Tuesday said that the factors mitigating the punishment of the offender of any criminal act include the "antecedents" of the accused, his conduct in custody or jail or the period of imprisonment.

 

The death penalty is awarded when all the possibilities of reformation of the criminal have been exhausted. The division bench passed the judgment while hearing a review petition filed by Sundararajan against the 2013 Supreme Court judgment, a hearing where the Supreme Court stayed Sundararajan's death penalty trial.

 

In the March 21 verdict, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court commuted Sundararajan's death sentence to life imprisonment of not less than 20 years. Sundararajan was convicted of abducting and killing a seven-year-old child in 2009 and was sentenced to death previously.

 

Contempt action would be taken against the Police Inspector:

 

During the hearing of the review petition, the court also ordered the initiation of contempt proceedings against the police inspector of Kammapuram police station in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu. The court held the police officer guilty of filing a false affidavit and concealing the conduct of the petitioner, who is in jail, and asked the Registry to take "suo motu" cognizance of the officer and issue a notice against him.