INDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY AWARDED FOR RAPE

the Supreme Court in Madras, India, commuted the death penalty imposed on a man charged with raping and murdering his niece to life imprisonment. A bench of Justices S B Sinha and H S Bedi said the prosecution failed to furnish medical records to prove that accused Ujjagar Singh was capable of performing sexual intercourse at the time of the incident. Even assuming that the deceased and the accused had sexual intercourse, there was no material evidence to prove the offence of rape, the apex court said, acquitting Singh of the rape charge but confirming his conviction for murder. However, the Bench rejected the defence of the accused that the victim was shot dead by an unidentified intruder and he was falsely implicated due to a property dispute.