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16. Mohanakrishnan He does Body of 'X' and pushed 'X' in the not admit 'Y' are canal and the fact recovered Manoharan pushed from the canal 'Y' in the canal and the postmortem report shows that they died of drowning and they had auramine poison in the stomach ” Based on this, the High Court, therefore, concluded:-
“41. Evidence relating to Rape of 'X':
There is no direct evidence to prove this fact. The prosecution is relying upon the following pieces of evidence for inferring rape.
(a) Dr.Jeyasingh [P.W.46], who conducted the autopsy on the body of 'X', has stated that he found “(4) Contusion 2x1 cm x 0.5 cm depth noted over in the posterior fouchette and lateral wall of vagina. Hymen Intact. (5)On examination of anus:- Anus found roomy measuring 3 cm in diameter and mucosal tear 1 x 0.5cm x mucosal deep noted over left lateral aspect of the anus at the level of muco-cutaneous junction. On dissection of Thorax and Abdomen: Contusion 4x2 cm noted over anterior aspect of lower end of uterus.” In his final opinion, Ex.P.50, he has stated, “The deceased would appear to have died of DROWNING.

16. Learned counsel for the Appellant then argued that it is wholly improbable that the lunch bag of the murdered boy would be taken home by the accused Appellant and would be found by the police at his house two days thereafter. Obviously therefore the aforesaid bag has been planted by the police. Even if this is so, this does not take the Appellant anywhere. What is clear from a narration of the facts above is that it is clear that the children were initially abducted by Mohanakrishnan after which the Appellant joined them. The fact that the Appellant brutally raped the 10 year old girl is corroborated not only by his confessional statement but also by the DNA test which found the Appellant’s pubic hair on the panty of the girl. It is clear that once this heinous act was committed, the next important step would be for both the accused to do away with the children so that they would not be able to give evidence as to the kidnapping and rape committed on the girl. Towards this end, it is admitted that the Appellant purchased “cow dung” powder, that is poison, and milk, and stated in his confessional statement that the two were then mixed and administered to both children by both the accused. Since the poison did not work, the only other way of doing away with the children would be to find some other method, and the method found by the two accused was to take the children to the canal in question and throw them into the canal so that they would be dead by drowning. The entire chain of events has been made out and despite this being a case of circumstantial evidence, the prosecution has clearly proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The courts below are right in convicting the Appellant of rape and murder.

22. In Khushwinder Singh v. State of Punjab, (2019) 4 SCC 415, this Court affirmed the death sentence of the accused in which the accused had killed six innocent persons, out of which two were minors, by kidnapping three persons, drugging them with sleeping tablets, and then pushing them into a canal. Thereafter, three other members of the same family were done away with. This Court upheld the award of capital punishment as follows:-

“14. Now, so far as the capital punishment imposed by the learned Sessions Court and confirmed by the High Court is concerned, at the outset, it is required to be noted that, as such, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the accused is not in a position to point out any mitigating circumstance which warrants commutation of death sentence to the life imprisonment. In the present case, the accused has killed six innocent persons, out of which two were minors — below 10 years of age. Almost, all the family members of PW 5 were done to death in a diabolical and dastardly manner. Fortunately, or unfortunately, only one person of the family of PW 5 could survive. In the present case, the accused has killed six innocent persons in a pre-planned manner. The convict meticulously planned the time. He first kidnapped three persons by way of deception and took them to the canal and after drugging them with sleeping tablets, pushed them in the canal at midnight to ensure that the crime is not detected. That, thereafter he killed another three persons in the second stage/instalment. Therefore, considering the law laid down by this Court in Mukesh v. State (NCT of Delhi)[Mukesh v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2017) 6 SCC 1 : (2017) 2 SCC (Cri) 673] , the case would fall in the category of the “rarest of rare case” warranting death sentence/capital punishment. The aggravating circumstances are in favour of the prosecution and against the accused. Therefore, striking a balance between the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, we are of the opinion that the aggravating circumstance would tilt the balance in favour of capital punishment. In the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that there is no alternative punishment suitable, except the death sentence. The crime is committed with extremist brutality and the collective conscience of the society would be shocked. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the capital punishment/death sentence imposed by the learned Sessions Court and confirmed by the High Court does not warrant any interference by this Court. Therefore, we confirm the death sentence of the accused imposed by the learned Sessions Court and confirmed by the High Court while convicting the appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC.” The present case consists of a crime even more shocking than that in Khushwinder’s case (supra), in as much as a young 10 year old girl has first been horribly gangraped after which she and her brother aged 7 years were done away with while they were conscious by throwing them into a canal which caused their death by drowning.