STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. JASWAMT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal and the special leave petition arise out of an order made by the High Court modifying the sentence of death imposed upon the respondent in Criminal Appeal No. 633 of 1995 (Respondent 2 in SLPs (Crl.) Nos. 3347-48 of 1994).

(2.) THE High Court while affirming the conviction imposed by the trial court felt that the motive for commission of crime was obscure and it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that the accused committed the murder of Raj Kumari and Raj Rani out of greed or gain. The Court, however, noticed that the said two persons Raj Kumari and Raj Rani were two old, infirm and defenceless ladies who had reposed confidence in him and engaged him as a domestic servant. Even so, the High Court held that it was not a rarest of the rare cases or an exceptional case which calls for imposition of extreme penalty of death on the said accused and, therefore, declined to accept the reference made by the trial court for confirmation of the death sentence and allowed the appeal before it to reduce the sentence to imprisonment for life under S.302 IPC.

(3.) PERHAPS we would have accepted what the learned Senior Advocate submitted before us in this case, had there not been other circumstances arising in the present case.