Sentenced to death for raping minor, Madhya Pradesh school teacher challenges penalty in Supreme Court

Jabalpur: A school teacher convicted for raping a four-year-old-girl has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death penalty, a prison official said on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_2267346” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. PTI[/caption] Mahendra Singh Gond (28) filed the SLP in the Supreme Court on 11 February, challenging his death sentence in the rape case, Jabalpur Central Jail’s law officer Ashok Singh said. A trial court in Satna had earlier this month issued a ‘death warrant’ against Gond after the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed his death sentence on 25 January, he said. The trial court had sent the death warrant, fixing his execution for 2 March, 2019, through an e-mail to the Central Jail earlier this month. The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President, Singh said, adding the death warrant will be executed only after all the available legal remedies are exhausted. The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age). Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, Singh said. According to the prosecution, the convict had raped the minor girl after kidnapping her from her house on 1 July, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes. The girl received severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital. Gond was later arrested by the police and a charge sheet was filed against him. Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact a law in December 2017, providing for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age. The Centre had brought an amendment in the IPC to punish the rapists of girls below 12 years of age with death in 2018.