KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of two men convicted in the 2021 rape and murder of a five-year-old girl, sentencing them instead to 60 years of imprisonment without the possibility of remission. The court cited the potential for reform and the convicts’ personal circumstances as factors in its decision.
The convicts, Fagun Mandi and Rabindra Routh, were found guilty of kidnapping the child, subjecting her to aggravated sexual assault, and strangling her before hiding her body. Witnesses testified that the child was last seen with the two men — one said he saw them at his shop, while others saw them heading toward a field where the girl’s body was discovered on November 7, 2021.
A lower court in Jhargram had sentenced the men to death in 2023.
In its judgment, a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi stated: “Considering the appellants’ lack of prior criminal record, poor mental health status, and the nature of the offence, we find it appropriate to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment for a period of 60 years without remission.”
The court emphasized that while the crime was heinous, the possibility of rehabilitation within the prison system could not be entirely ruled out.
