INDIA: HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE IN CHILD MURDER CASE

May 28, 2025:

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of abducting and murdering his six-year-old nephew, instead sentencing him to life imprisonment until his last breath.
A division bench of Justice Vivek Agrawal and Justice Dev Narayan Mishra also nullified the life sentence of the co-accused woman in the case.
On March 12, 2019, six-year-old Shivkant Prajapati from Rahikvara village in the Nagod police station area of Satna was kidnapped by his uncle, Anutav.
Co-accused Vibha alias Vidya Prajapati called the child's family, demanding a ransom of Rs 2 lakh.
The accused uncle strangled the child to death. Police filed a charge sheet against the accused in a Nagod court. The Nagod court considered the case as the rarest of the rare and sentenced the accused uncle to death. Additionally, the co-accused woman was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The case was referred to the high court for confirmation of the death penalty. An appeal was also filed in the HC challenging the sentence. During the hearing, the bench found that the accused was only 21 years old at the time of the crime. Moreover, the crime was committed for money. The bench did not consider the incident to fall under the rarest of rare category and annulled the death sentence. Due to a lack of evidence, the bench also overturned the sentence of the co-accused woman.