In the case, Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan ( 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557 ), the bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar observed that “The quest for justice in such cases, with death sentence being awarded and maintained only in extreme cases, does not mean that the matter would be approached and examined in the manner that death sentence has be avoided, even if the matter indeed calls for such a punishment.”,
In the aforementioned case, the convict used a stolen motorcycle to kidnap the victim by misusing the trust gained by offering confectionery items. Thereafter, he raped the victim and smashed her head which resulted in multiple fracture and also injured her private parts. It was one of the gruesome murder witnessed by anyone as the victim was just seven and half years old mentally and physically challenged girl who need more love, compassion and care. But the miscreant used the trust for his evil motive.
The Court awarded death penalty to the accused by taking into consideration – vulnerability of the victim, conduct of the accused and manner of committing the crime. The court also observed that there is absolutely no reason to commute the sentence of death to any other sentence of lesser degree because the miscreant literally smashed the head of a seven and half years old girl and caused gruesome injury to her including her private parts. So, one can’t expect any kind of reformation on his behalf.
