The Punjab and Haryana High Court has commuted the death sentence of Virender, alias Bholu, to life imprisonment for the 2018 rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.
While the court ordered that Virender serve 30 years without remission and increased his fine to ₹30 lakh, it notably acquitted his mother, Kamla Devi, who had previously been convicted of conspiracy and destroying evidence.
In a scathing observation on regional social dynamics, Justices Anoop Chitkara and Sukhvinder Kaur noted that the mother’s actions were driven by a “blind love” for her son.
The bench remarked that in this patriarchal culture, sons are often shielded as “Raja Betas” (precious sons), regardless of the gravity of their crimes.
The court ruled that while the mother’s priority was to protect her son over seeking justice for the victim, there is no specific IPC section to punish a mother for this “appalling” social attitude.
Furthermore, the bench downgraded the man’s sentence from death to life, opining that the murder was a panicked attempt to destroy evidence rather than a premeditated act, and argued that the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty remains “unscientific.”
