Kolkata, July 24 -- In a rare judgement, the Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentences of two men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in 2021, sentencing them instead to life imprisonment for 60 years without the possibility of remission.
A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi upheld the convictions of Fagun Mandi and Rabindra Routh, who were found guilty by a Jhargram sessions court of gang rape, aggravated penetrative sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, and destruction of evidence.
The trial court had deemed the crime as falling under the "rarest of rare" category, warranting capital punishment due to its brutal nature.
However, the High Court, while affirming the convict...