On Thursday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala stayed the death sentence imposed on a flower seller convicted of raping and murdering a minor in Tamil Nadu's Pudukkottai in 2020. The bench also requested the Tamil Nadu government's response in the matter.

In 2020, the appellant was convicted of rape and murder of a 7-year-old Dalit child who died as a result of a penetrative sexual assault.

Before committing sexual assault on the child, the accused allegedly became friends with her. Fearing that the child would tell someone about the crime, the accused smashed her head against a tree and threw her body into a dry pond.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court upheld the death penalty imposed by Sessions Judge Pudukkottai in the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in January (POCSO Act). A bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and G Jayachandran emphasised that allowing someone like the accused to survive in the world would "pollute the minds of co-prisoners on the verge of release."

The High Court ruled that the presumption was against the accused in this case because Section 29 of the POCSO Act imposed a statutory presumption on the accused. The bench had rejected the accused's contention about the delay in filing a first information report (FIR), reasoning that it was natural to search for a missing person in all possible locations and only after determining that the missing person could not be found would one consider filing a police complaint.

Case Title:  Samivel @ Raja vs State of Tamil Nadu
Ciation: Crl.A. No. 002231 - 002232 / 2022
https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/26241/26241_2022_1_28_40459_Order_08-Dec-2022.pdf