2014 ALLMR (Cri)1090, I(2014)CCR502 (SC), 2014(1)MLJ(Crl)634, 2014(1)RCR(Criminal) 959, 2014(2) SCALE 293

Appellant, submitted that the case on hand was not the one which falls in the category of "rarest of rare" warranting capital punishment and further there was no intention to kill - Whether the present case would fall under the category of "rarest of rare", warranting the death sentence - Held, even if the crime test and criminal test have been fully satisfied, to award the death sentence, the prosecution has to satisfy the R-R Test - One of the factors which weighed with the trial court as well as the High Court to award death sentence to the accused was his criminal antecedents - One of the factors which weighed with the High Court to affirm the death sentence was that the accused was charge-sheeted for commissioning of 24 criminal cases, out of which three were under Section 302 IPC and two were under Section 307 IPC, consequently, the Court held that there was no probability that the accused would not commit the act of violence in future and his presence would be a continuing threat to the society - No materials were produced to show that the accused stood convicted in any of those cases - Accused was only charge-sheeted and not convicted, hence, that factor was not a relevant factor to be taken note of while applying the R-R test so as to award capital punishment - Accused in the present case had the full knowledge i.e., if he fires the shot on the temporal area, that is between the forehead and the ear, it would result in death of the child of one year who was in the arms of PW1 - Appellant had taken out the pistol and fired at the right temporal area of the child, as retaliation of not meeting with his demand and there was nothing to show that, at the time of the incident, he was under the influence of liquor - Consequently, while conviction was affirmed it was held that the present was not a rarest of rare case, warranting capital punishment - Death sentence as awarded by the trial Court and affirmed by the High Court was set aside and conviction was converted into imprisonment for life.