A division bench of the Tripura HC on feb, 25 relaxed the death sentence of a man convicted of rape & murder of a seven-year-old & awarded him imprisonment for 25 years.

A fast-track court had awarded death sentence to 27-year-old Sanjoy Tanti of Dharmanagar in North Tripura in August last year after he was found guilty. After hearing Tanti's appeal petition, the bench comprising Chief Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi & Justice Arindam Lodh set aside the trial court decision.

The victim's family & human rights bodies strongly reacted to the High Court's decision & demanded a review of the judgment "to send a strong message to the society against such heinous crime".

According to reports, police recovered the mutilated body of the victim from a jungle at Maheshpur three days after she had gone missing from her residence. Though the accused confessed to police that he had raped & murdered the girl, medical investigation & forensic report could not confirm the statement, as the corpse was mutilated, leaving no evidence to connect the accused with the rape. 
 

Soon after the recovery of the body, Tanti was absconding, which led the cops to suspect his role. He was subsequently arrested from a nearby village. The trial court, after hearing the statements of 21 witnesses & examining circumstantial evidence, convicted Tanti under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code & Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.

After he was awarded the death sentence, the convict moved the HC, citing no evidence of his involvement in the case. The HC reviewed the record of investigation & commuted the death penalty to a 25-year jail term

The police investigation claimed that Tanti had allured the girl, who was from his neighbourhood, while she was playing with others in the afternoon. He took her to a deserted place then raped her  before strangling her to death. He then dumped the body in a ditch. 

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

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