the Calcutta High Court, India, commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence

the Calcutta High Court, India, commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to Bishu Mondal for the rape and murder of a 14-year old. Observing that it could not be termed the rarest of rare crimes for which the death sentence is awarded, a Division Bench comprising Justice Alok Basu and Justice P K Deb commuted the capital punishment awarded to Mondal by the additional sessions judge, Baharampore, after convicting him under sections 302 (murder) and 376(2)(g) of the Indian Penal Code.
Also considering Mondal's age of only 20 years when he committed the crime and that he had no past record of crime, the sentence was commuted, the Bench observed.
The 14-year old girl was gagged, raped and murdered when she was cutting grass at around 10.30 am in a field at Mominpur village in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on 2 March 1997, by Mondal and his juvenile associate Ketab Sheikh.
Sheikh was tried by the juvenile board and sent to a juvenile home.