Calcutta HC commutes 2 convicts' death sentence to 60 yrs in jail

KOLKATA: Calcutta high court Wednesday set aside the death sentence imposed on two men convicted of rape and murder of a five-year-old child in 2021 and commuted it to 60 years of imprisonment without remission, citing possibility of reform inside jail.

The convicts, Fagun Mandi and Rabindra Routh, had kidnapped the child, subjected her to aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and strangled her before hiding her body. A witness claimed the girl and the convicts had come to his shop around the same time, while others said they had seen them go to a field, where the girl's body was recovered on Nov 7, 2021.

A Jhargram court sentenced them to death in 2023.

"Considering the appellants' (no criminal) background, (poor) mental health status and the nature of the crime, we deem it appropriate to impose life sentence on them without a remission for 60 years," a division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi said.