Surya Kant, J. - (1.)These appeals assail the judgment dated 20th January, 2016 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad, confirming the death reference in the Sessions Case No. 127 of 2012 decided by the Additional Sessions Judge, Jalna, in which the appellant having been found guilty of committing offences punishable under Sections 302, 363, 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "the IPC"), has been awarded the sentence of death under Section 302, IPC along with the sentence of rigorous imprisonment(s) of different durations with fine for the rest of offences. The Trial Court as well as the High Court have concurrently held that the case falls within the exceptional category of 'rarest of the rare' cases where all other alternative options but to award death sentence, are foreclosed.
(2.)The facts leading to the aforestated conclusion are to the following effect:-
(3.)The informant Iliyas Mohinuddin (P.W.9) had been a fruitseller based in Jalna. On 06.03.2012 at about 5.00 p.m. while he was as usual busy in selling fruits, his wife informed him that their daughter (in short, 'the victim child') who was 2 years old, was missing. He along with his relatives started looking for the child. During their search, the informant came to know from Azbar (P.W.2) that the appellant had been spotted drunk and was distributing chocolates to small children in the lane near the Maroti Temple. The appellant was also a resident of the same lane. The informant went to the appellant's house which was found locked. As the whereabouts of the missing child were still not known, the informant lodged a formal missing report to the police. He also passed on the information to the police as received from Azbar (P.W.2) regarding the distribution of chocolates amongst small children by the appellant. The police, therefore, came to the appellant's house which had two doors. One was found locked from outside while the other was locked from inside. Police broke open the door and entered the house along with the informant, his brother and a few other persons. They found the appellant in the house; deceased-victim was lying under the bed in a naked and unconscious condition. Blood was oozing out from her private parts and had multiple injuries on her body. She was covered in a blanket and taken to the hospital where the doctor declared her brought dead. Inquest panchnama was prepared and the body was sent for post mortem. A panel of doctors, including Dr. B.L. Survase and Dr. Bedarkar (P.W. 7 and P.W.8 respectively) performed the post mortem and found multiple injuries on the person of the victim. They opined that the death was caused due to throttling. The informant - father of the victim lodged the report at 12.30 a.m. on 07.03.2012 on the basis of which Crime No. 56 of 2012 was registered. The appellant was arrested at about 1.00 a.m. on the same day by the Investigating Officer Rajinder Singh Gaur (P.W.12). The clothes worn by the appellant were seized and the seizure panchnama was drawn in the presence of panchnama witnesses - Sheikh Arshad and Sheikh Nayeem.