"Post conviction, while in jail, he made a murderous attack on jail inmate. These instances persuades us to hold that he is beyond improvement and there are no chances of reformation," the Court said.
The criminal history of a convict by itself is not a ground to award the death penalty, observed the Supreme Court while commuting the sentence of a murder convict from the death penalty to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court took strong exception to the conduct of a Bihar trial court, the police, the public prosecutor, and the Patna High Court in a case concerning a death-row prisoner convicted for rape and murder.
The Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of Irfan from the Bareilly Central Prison, who was earlier on death row. He was accused of burning the deceased to death after they allegedly opposed his second marriage.
The Court awarded the lesser sentence of life imprisonment after observing that Kumar was about 23 years at the time of the crime and that he had a one-year-old daughter and wife.