IMPORTANT POINT
Rape and murder of a 7 years old child, that too in a gruesome manner, is rarest of rare case deserving death sentence.

JUDGMENT

Chandramauli KR. Prasad, J. —

1. Appellant was put on trial for offence under Sections 366, 376, 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Penal Code’). The Trial Court by its judgment and order dated 29th of May, 2007 passed in Sessions Trial No.220 of 2004 arising out of the Manigachi P.S. Case No.13 of 2004 held the appellant guilty of all the charges and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for offence under Section 366 of the Penal Code, life imprisonment under Section 376 of the Penal Code, rigorous imprisonment for 7 years for offence under Section 201 of the Penal Code and death penalty for offence under Section 302 of the Penal Code. The trial court made Reference to the High Court for confirmation of the death sentence which led to registration of Death Reference No. 6 of 2007. Appellant aggrieved by his conviction and sentence also preferred appeal which was registered as Criminal Appeal (DB) No. 963 of 2007. Both, the reference and appeal were heard together and by a common judgment dated 19th of August, 2008, the Division Bench of the Patna High Court accepted the reference and dismissed the appeal.

2. This is how the appellant is before us with the leave of the Court.

3. According to the prosecution, the appellant Md. Mannan was working as mason and engaged for the plaster work at the residence of informant’s uncle PW-8 Devikant Jha. On 28th of September, 2004, the appellant gave Rs.2/- to the niece of the informant, namely, Kalyani Kumari aged about 8 years to bring betel from a shop at Hanuman Chowk. After some time, appellant left the work, went to the Hanuman Chowk and got seated Kalyani Kumari on the carrier of his bicycle. PW-5 Maya Devi and other women heard the conversation which the appellant was having with Kalyani Kumari. Appellant, according to women folk, asked Kalyani Kumari as to where her father lives to which she replied that he stays at Bombay. A search was made when Kalyani Kumari did not return home for sometime and in the course thereof, it surfaced that she was seen going on a bicycle with a man. The informant Sharwan Kumar Jha (PW-10) and his family members set out in search of the girl and while they were returning from Bahera saw the appellant going towards Bahera. Appellant tried to escape but was apprehended and on enquiry he showed ignorance about the girl. Appellant was brought to the residence of the informant where PW-5 Maya Devi disclosed that she had seen the appellant who had taken away Kalyani Kumari on his bicycle. Thereafter, the appellant was brought to the Police Station and handed over to the officer-in-charge with a written report, for taking suitable action, alleging that the appellant had kidnapped Kalyani Kumari. On the basis of the aforesaid information, a case was registered and PW-11 Hari Ram, the officer-in-charge took up the investigation.

4. During the course of investigation, the appellant gave a confessional statement in the presence of the witnessess Amar Kishore Jha (PW-2) and Devi Kant Jha (PW-8) and other villagers. The appellant confessed his guilt and disclosed the place where he had raped and killed Kalyani Kumari. The statement given by the appellant led to the recovery of the dead body of Kalyani Kumari from a field. She was identified by the informant and other villagers. The dead body of Kalyani Kumari had injury on the private parts, her nails were munched and there were marks of bruises all over the body. The Inquest Report was prepared and the dead body was sent for post-mortem examination which was conducted by PW-4 Dr. Prafulla Kumar Das, a Tutor in the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. Police, after usual investigation, submitted charge-sheet against the appellant for kidnapping, raping and killing a minor girl and causing disappearance of evidence of offence. Appellant was ultimately committed to the Court of Sessions to fac