70. Keeping in view the aforesaid, when I test the case of the appellants, I do not find anything on record to suggest that appellants are menace to the society who cannot be reformed or rehabilitated and shall constitute a continuing threat to the society. Although the crime committed is heinous and brutal, yet, in my opinion, it does not fall in the category of rarest of the rare cases. Accordingly, I do not find it safe to confirm the sentence of death awarded to the appellants. Following the precedent of the Supreme Court in the case of Prakash Dhawal Khairnar (Patil) (supra), I sentence the appellants to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life with the condition that they shall not be released before completing the actual term of 20 years, including the period already undergone by them.
In Prakash Dhawal Khairnar (Patil) Vs. State of
Maharashtra (2002) 2 SCC 35; the accused gunned down his
own brother and his family members and also his mother. The
dispute arose on account of the fact that his brother was not willing
to partition the joint family properties. This Court held that though
it was a heinous and brutal crime, yet it did not fall in the category
of the rarest of rare cases. There was no evidence to support that
the appellant in that case was a menace to society. There was also
no reason to believe that he could not be reformed or rehabilated,
and he was likely to continue his criminal acts of violence as
would constitute continuing threat to the society. The facts are
somewhat similar in this case, and therefore, on a careful
consideration of all the relevant circumstances we are of the view
that the sentence of death is not warranted in this case. We,
therefore, set aside the death sentence awarded by the Trial Court
and confirmed by the High Court to appellants Lallan Singh and
Babban Singh. We instead sentence them to suffer rigorous
imprisonment for life with the condition that they shall not be
released before completing an actual term of 20 years including the
period already undergone by them.
Some of the decisions, noted in this regard by the Hon'ble Judge were
Swami Shraddhanand Vs. State of Karnataka reported in AIR
2007 (SC) 2531 in paras 60 to 63 of the said decision i.e the decisions
reported as Shri Bhagwan Vs. State of Rajasthan reported in 2001
(6) SCC 296, Parkash Dhawal Khairnar (Patil) Vs. State of
Maharashtra reported in 2002 (2) SCC 35, Ram Anoop Singh Vs.
State of Bihar reported in 2002 (6) SCC 686 and Mohd. Munna Vs.
Union of India reported in 2005 (7) SCC 417. The convict in the
said case was thus sentenced to imprisonment for life with a direction
that he will not be considered for being grant of remission till he
undergoes an actual sentence of 20 years.
70. There is nothing on the record to suggest that this accused shall be a menace to the society and can not be rehabilitated and shall be a continuing threat to the society. Although the crime committed is heinous and brutal, yet, in our opinion, it does not fall in the category of the rarest of the rare cases. Accordingly, we do not find it safe to confirm the sentence of death awarded to him. Following the precedent of the Supreme Court in the case of Prakash Dhawal Khairnar (Patil) v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. , we reduce the sentence of death to that of rigorous imprisonment for life with the condition that he shall not be released before completing the actual term of 20 years including the period already undergone by him.