In a rape-murder case, the death penalty cannot be imposed simply because the victim is young

- Observation of the Supreme after a study of 67 cases over 40 years

- Supreme Court commutes death sentence to 30 years in prison for rape and murder of five-year-old girl in 2010

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the age of the victim in a rape or murder case cannot be the sole basis for sentencing the accused to death. The court also commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of misdemeanor to murder to 20 years in prison. The court made the decision after studying eight cases in the last 20 years.

The court observed this while hearing the appeal of Irappa Siddappa. Sidappa was sentenced by a lower court in 2010 to death for abducting, raping and later killing a five-year-old girl. Which was later upheld by the Karnataka High Court on March 3, 2016. However, the decision of the High Court was later challenged by the convict in the Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court bench had convicted Sidappa of kidnapping, rape, murder and destruction of evidence, although his death sentence was overturned and he was commuted to 20 years in prison. It also stipulated that Sidappa would not be released before the end of his 20-year sentence in any case.

The bench of the court studied the three judgments in the last 30 years and took the decision after that. In 21 cases, the age of the victim was less than 18 years. In these judgments, the lower court upheld the death sentence, which was upheld by the high court. The Supreme Court had given death sentence only in these cases. In three cases, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after reconsideration. Death sentences were handed down in 12 cases. The victims were 18 years of age or less.