The Supreme Court has stayed the death penalty for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. The convict had done abusive behavior with the innocent daughter of his colleague laborer’s daughter. A three-judge bench headed by Justice UU Lalit, while hearing the appeal of convict Jaiprakash Tiwari against the order of the Uttarakhand High Court, said that in this case we feel that the psychological evaluation of the guilty appellant should be done.
The court ordered the Uttarakhand government that a suitable team of psychologists from AIIMS Rishikesh would conduct a psychological evaluation of the convict Jayaprakash by going to Sudhowala district jail. The court said that the jail administration will fully cooperate in getting the culprit investigated. The evaluation report of the convict will be presented in the court by April 25. After that the court will hear the matter on May 4, 2022.
The court said that the jail authority will also tell what the convict did in the jail. Apart from this, orders have been given to present the report of the Probation Officer in this regard in the court. Significantly, this is the first time that the Supreme Court has ordered a psychological evaluation of the convict before the hearing. In this report, the court will see what is his mental condition and whether there is scope for improvement in it, whether he can be left free in the society.
what is the matter
In Sahaspur police station Vikasnagar, Jayaprakash raped the daughter of his colleague, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, when he had gone to work. The trial court convicted him under sections 302, 201, 376, 377 of the IPC and section 6 of the POCSO Act. The Uttarakhand High Court had in January 2020 confirmed the death sentence awarded to him by the trial court in August 2019.
Rejecting his appeal, the High Court had observed, “The offense of the appellant is so brutal that it shocks not only the judicial conscious but also the conscious mind of the society, this case certainly comes in the category of rarest of the rare cases.” There can be no punishment except death. The convict appealed against this decision.