Lucknow, Nov. 19 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has upheld the conviction of a 27-year-old accused for the rape and murder of his 5-month-old cousin.The HC, however, declined to confirm the death penalty imposed by the trial court, and commuted it to life imprisonment.

This judgement was passed on November 18 by a division bench of justice Rajnish Kumar and justice Rajeev Singh on an appeal filed by the convict - Premchandra aka Pappu Dixit, challenging the trial court's judgement. The bench concluded that the prosecution had fully established the charges of murder, rape and other offences, through a chain of circumstances which referred only towards the guilt of the convict/appellant without reasonable doubt.

The cour...