New Delhi, November 4
The Supreme Court on Friday commuted the death penalty of a man convicted of rape and murder of a widow in 1998 on the ground that he was in solitary confinement in a jail for almost 10 years.
“The incarceration in solitary confinement thus did show ill-effects on the well-being of the appellant. In the backdrop of these features of the matter, in our view, the appellant is entitled to have the death sentence imposed upon him to be commuted to life,” a Bench led by CJI UU Lalit said, while deciding an appeal filed by BA Umesh who raped and murdered a widow in Bengaluru in 1998.
“We impose upon him the sentence of life imprisonment with a rider that he shall undergo a minimum sentence of 30 years and if any application for remission is moved on his behalf, the same shall be considered on its own merits only after he has undergone the actual sentence of 30 years,” said the Bench which also included Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice PS Narasimha.
Umesh was awarded the death sentence by the trial court in 2006.
