Life sentence is rule, death exception, says Cal HC, spares convict the noose
Kolkata: Life sentence was the rule and death an exception, the Calcutta High Court observed on Thursday as it commuted the death sentence awarded to a 33-year-old man convicted of murdering a woman in a hotel room in Bakkhali in 2018 to life term.
The division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi also said that the case did not fall in the 'rarest of rare' category and sentenced Samar Patra to life imprisonment saying even though his involvement in the murder had been established beyond doubt, he could still be reformed.
Patra had been booked under section 302 IPC dealing with murder that attracts death sentence or life imprisonment along with a fine.
A lower court had on March 22, 2023 convicted him of the murder and awarded a death sentence along with a fine of Rs 5,000.
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"It has been laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court time and again that life imprisonment is a rule and death penalty is an exception in awarding sentences in cases where death and life imprisonment are the prescribed punishments," the HC held.
The victim and Patra had checked into the hotel together on April 11, 2018.
When they did not respond to repeated calls the next day, the hotel manager informed police and the woman was found dead on the bed. The ventilation window in the attached washroom was found broken and Patra was missing. An autopsy revealed the victim had died due to strangulation by ligature, which was ante mortem and homicidal in nature.
After his arrest, Patra claimed he found the woman hanging from the ceiling fan when he woke up at night, brought down the body but fled as he was terrified.
"As a man of ordinary prudence, it was expected that the appellant should have called upon officials of the hotel and reported the matter to police," the HC observed while upholding his conviction.
"The appellant is aged about 33 years. Nothing of unfavourable behaviour has been reported against the appellant, which does not rule out the possibility of reform. The evidence on record does not suggest that the murder of the victim was pre-planned or committed with premeditation and extreme brutality. Rather, the evidence on record shows that the appellant and the victim had visited and stayed together in the hotel on previous occasions as well.
Such circumstances belie the existence of any previous enmity between them," the bench held.
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