In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted in the 2013 homicide of his partner’s four-year-old daughter, altering the charge from murder to culpable homicide. The case, which initially resulted in death and life sentences for three individuals, including the child’s mother, saw the court re-examine the evidence and motivations behind the crime.
The tragic incident unfolded in October 2013 when the child’s body was found buried in a six-feet-deep pit. The prosecution alleged that the child was killed because she was seen as an obstacle to the relationship between her mother and Rajith, the main accused. Along with the child’s mother and a third accomplice, Basil, Rajith was accused of conspiring to eliminate the young girl.
Upon reviewing the case, the High Court, led by Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar VM, concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove an intention to murder. The judges downgraded the charge to culpable homicide, citing that while there was intent to cause bodily harm, it did not meet the threshold for murder under the law. The court emphasized that the prosecution’s theory of the mother viewing her daughter as an obstacle lacked credibility, as the child could have been sent to live with her grandparents.
Despite the commutation of Rajith’s death sentence to life imprisonment, the court maintained that the three individuals were guilty of conspiring to cause the child’s death and hiding her body. However, charges under the POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act were dismissed, and life sentences for the child’s mother and Basil were upheld.
