Child’s rape & murder: HC upholds death for Dashvanth
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai:11.07.2018
About 16 months after S Dashvanth, a computer engineering graduate, sexually assaulted and murdered a seven-yearold girl at his house in Mugalivakkam, the Madras high court confirmed his death sentence saying his character was beyond redemption and that his reformation was but a distant dream.
Issuing the order against the 23-year-old, a division bench of justices S Vimala and S Ramathilagam, said: “Let the last second of this accused, at the long end of the rope, be the last second of the lust of potential offenders of the world towards womenfolk.” If at all there is a case warranting award of death, it is this, the judges said.
‘Mind of the accused reflected in the way he tried to dispose of the body’
Dashvanth lured a seven-yearold girl, his neighbour, sexually assaulted her and killed her. He took the body in a bag and torched it in a deserted area in February 2017. Till his role was exposed, he joined the team of police and family members searching for the missing girl. After a long stay in jail, he came out on bail, only to murder his own mother and flee to Mumbai with jewellery stolen from his own house. He was nabbed in Mumbai, but escaped from police custody, before being caught again within a day.
After so much drama, Dashvanth was sentenced to death by Chengalpet mahila court in the sexual assault-murder case on February 19, 2018. The present bench of the high court heard both the mandatory referred trial (RT) and regular appeal filed by Dashvanth against his conviction.
Confirming his death sentence with heavy heart, the all-women bench of the high court on Tuesday said: “Opponents of capital punishment may brand it as surrender of our emotions to grief and fear. But for the supporters, this is totally false. Many of us would find it hard even to kill an ant, much less a man. Accepting capital punishment means not that we surrender our emotion, but that we overcome it.”
Further, pointing out to the allegation that he had even murdered his mother, before fleeing to Mumbai jumping bail during the trial in the present case, the court said the act of accused clearly shows that reformation of the accused is a distant dream and, therefore, prudence should prevail in sentencing the accused to death.
Noting that the court though swayed by the demands for abolition of capital punishment from the pages of penology, is still conscious of the larger social interest and attendant implications of letting out the criminals involved in child sexual abuse, the bench said: “Left with the Hobson’s choice of sticking to the capital punishment as the appropriate punishment for the accused, we thereby, concur with the reasoning offered by Brutus after assassination of Caesar in Shakesperian history. Brutus said, I loved Caesar less, by that I loved Rome more.”
Answering to an ancillary contention to consider that the age of the accused must be considered, while imposing punishment, the bench said, it is to be pointed out that though age is a factor, it is not a determinative factor, for deciding the punishment. “This court is of the considered opinion that the mind of the accused is reflected in the way the body of the deceased had been tried to be disposed of. It shows the ruthless character of the accused, which shows that the mind is beyond reformation,” the court added.
After pronouncing the judgment, the court granted leave to the accused to file appeal in the Supreme Court as requested by the counsel for accused.
S Dashvanth
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai:11.07.2018
About 16 months after S Dashvanth, a computer engineering graduate, sexually assaulted and murdered a seven-yearold girl at his house in Mugalivakkam, the Madras high court confirmed his death sentence saying his character was beyond redemption and that his reformation was but a distant dream.
Issuing the order against the 23-year-old, a division bench of justices S Vimala and S Ramathilagam, said: “Let the last second of this accused, at the long end of the rope, be the last second of the lust of potential offenders of the world towards womenfolk.” If at all there is a case warranting award of death, it is this, the judges said.
‘Mind of the accused reflected in the way he tried to dispose of the body’
Dashvanth lured a seven-yearold girl, his neighbour, sexually assaulted her and killed her. He took the body in a bag and torched it in a deserted area in February 2017. Till his role was exposed, he joined the team of police and family members searching for the missing girl. After a long stay in jail, he came out on bail, only to murder his own mother and flee to Mumbai with jewellery stolen from his own house. He was nabbed in Mumbai, but escaped from police custody, before being caught again within a day.
After so much drama, Dashvanth was sentenced to death by Chengalpet mahila court in the sexual assault-murder case on February 19, 2018. The present bench of the high court heard both the mandatory referred trial (RT) and regular appeal filed by Dashvanth against his conviction.
Confirming his death sentence with heavy heart, the all-women bench of the high court on Tuesday said: “Opponents of capital punishment may brand it as surrender of our emotions to grief and fear. But for the supporters, this is totally false. Many of us would find it hard even to kill an ant, much less a man. Accepting capital punishment means not that we surrender our emotion, but that we overcome it.”
Further, pointing out to the allegation that he had even murdered his mother, before fleeing to Mumbai jumping bail during the trial in the present case, the court said the act of accused clearly shows that reformation of the accused is a distant dream and, therefore, prudence should prevail in sentencing the accused to death.
Noting that the court though swayed by the demands for abolition of capital punishment from the pages of penology, is still conscious of the larger social interest and attendant implications of letting out the criminals involved in child sexual abuse, the bench said: “Left with the Hobson’s choice of sticking to the capital punishment as the appropriate punishment for the accused, we thereby, concur with the reasoning offered by Brutus after assassination of Caesar in Shakesperian history. Brutus said, I loved Caesar less, by that I loved Rome more.”
Answering to an ancillary contention to consider that the age of the accused must be considered, while imposing punishment, the bench said, it is to be pointed out that though age is a factor, it is not a determinative factor, for deciding the punishment. “This court is of the considered opinion that the mind of the accused is reflected in the way the body of the deceased had been tried to be disposed of. It shows the ruthless character of the accused, which shows that the mind is beyond reformation,” the court added.
After pronouncing the judgment, the court granted leave to the accused to file appeal in the Supreme Court as requested by the counsel for accused.
S Dashvanth
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