A man condemned to death for the brutal gangrape of a seven-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh has turned the spotlight on a question that has haunted trial judges — do they really know the person they send to the gallows?
For decades, sentencing hearings have covered only basic details like the convict’s immediate family structure, educational qualifications and work before arrest. No effort was made to consider information pivotal for mitigation like adverse childhood experiences, multigenerational history of physical and mental health issues, exposure to traumatic events and other familial, social and cultural factors crucial to undertaking an individualised sentencing enquiry.
In the present case of Irfan @ Bhay Mevati, the trial court sentenced him to death just hours after it found him guilty of the gangrape in 2018. It was a case in which death penalty was awarded though the child did not die. The Madhya Pradesh High Court, when the case came up in appeal, reasoned that death penalty was an effective deterrent in view of the alarming rise in sexual abuse of children.
