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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday commuted the death penalty awarded to a man for kidnapping for ransom and killing a 12-year-old boy, to life imprisonment with no remission till 20 years.

A division bench comprising of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal said it cannot be held that the murder was “pre-planned or diabolic” enough to shock the collective conscience of society.

“…accordingly, this court is of the considered view that a sentence of imprisonment of life with no remission till 20 years would be the appropriate sentence. The sentence of the appellant is thus modified to rigorous imprisonment for life with no remission till 20 years and to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh,” the court held in a 64-page judgment.

While commuting the death sentence, the court said this case does not fall in the category of “rarest of rare cases”.

“It is not a case where reformation of the appellant is not possible and accordingly, this Court is of the considered view that sentence of imprisonment of life with no remission till 20 years would be the appropriate sentence. The sentence of the appellant is thus modified to rigorous imprisonment for life with no remission till 20 years and to pay a fine of ₹1 lakh, in default whereof, to undergo simple imprisonment for six months for offence punishable under Section 302 IPC”, the division bench added.

High Court also clarified that the sentences as awarded by the Trial Court for offences punishable under Sections 364A, 201 and 506 IPC are not modified and will remain the same.

It noted that "it is evident that the appellant was in financial stringency and needed money for which he had kidnapped the child. From the evidence on record, it appears that the murder was not preplanned as the appellant was not armed with any weapon, however, when the appellant got stuck with his car, he smothered the victim and used the jack handle of his car to inflict injuries on the deceased so as to cause his death."

"Though causing the death of someone in itself is perversity, causing death by smothering and inflicting injuries by jack handle though opined to be consistent with intense torture, cannot be held to be a diabolic or seriously perverse manner of committing murder so as to shock the collective conscience of the society and fall in the category of rarest of rare cases," the court further stated.

The division bench also noted that no material had been placed on record by the State to show that the appellant is a menace to society with no possibility of any reformation and that there is no other option except to award the extreme sentence of death. "There is no previous criminal history either of the appellant or his family members. On the psychological assessment of the appellant, no such ailment or past history has been found", the court held.

In 2020, the Rohini district court sentenced Jeevak Nagpal with death penalty for the offences under Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of the offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

While convicting Nagpal, the trial court noted that it was the accused only who had kidnapped the 12-year old boy Manan on March 18, 2009, thereafter committed his murder and then disposed of his body by throwing it in a “naali” (drain).

Case Title: State v. Jeevak Nagpal alias Veevek Nagpal alias Shanky