The Supreme Court has set aside the conviction of a man facing death penalty for alleged rape and murder of a three-month-old girl and remitted the matter for a “de novo [new] trial”, observing that the trial in the case was conducted in a “hurried manner” without giving him proper opportunity to defend himself.
The Supreme Court noted that the trial in the case lodged in 2018 was completed within a span of 15 days from the date of filing of the charge sheet, the accused was convicted for several offences and sentenced to death by the trial court.
A Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai said, “We are of the considered view that the trial court conducted the trial in a hurried manner without giving proper opportunity to the accused to defend himself.” It was settled that a hasty trial in which proper and sufficient opportunity was not provided to the accused to defend himself or herself would vitiate the trial as being “meaningless and stage-managed”, the Bench, also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Prashant Kumar Mishra, said in its verdict delivered on October 19.
