Society can’t become a jungle: SC rejects appeal by man guilty of minor’s rape

A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy refused to show any leniency to the man even as his lawyer said the convict was only 20 when the crime was committed

Society cannot be allowed to become a jungle, said the Supreme Court as it dismissed an appeal by a man sentenced to life for rape and murder of a girl in 2009. A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy refused to show any leniency to the man even as his lawyer said the convict was only 20 when the crime was committed.

A fortnight after Supreme Court judge Dipak Misra, who handled Yakub Memon’s case, received a threatening letter at his residence, the Delhi Police received an email claiming to attack the apex court with bombs. (File Photo)

“What about the victim? You should be thankful that you have been spared the noose and were not given the death penalty. You must bear the consequences of your act,” the bench told the lawyer, Minakshi Vij, on Tuesday.

Vij, who appeared as a legal aid counsel for Naresh Shah, pointed out that the convict had been in prison for over a decade and that some order could be passed to enable him to come out by reducing the quantum of punishment.

“Remember, this society cannot be turned into some kind of a jungle. We cannot allow that. A court does not have to necessarily find a way to either lessen the punishment. There is also a victim on the other side and a court does remember that too. When there is discretion, it has to be exercised in the facts of every case,” the court said. It rejected Vij’s plea to let Shah come out on parole.

Shah was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Ambala which held him guilty of rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Harayan’s Naraingarh. The state government filed an appeal in the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2009, seeking the death penalty for Shah. The high court declined to enhance the punishment.