Jabalpur High Court Reduces Death Penalty To 25-Year Jail Term In Child Rape-Murder Case

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The principal bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur has converted a death sentence awarded to a convict in a minor rape and murder case to life imprisonment for 25 years. A division bench comprising Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avnindra Kumar Singh passed the order.

The case dates back to January 2, 2025, when a six-year-old girl went missing from a village in Seoni Malwa. During the investigation, police detained Ajay Vadiva Dhruve who confessed that he had lured the child to a spot near a canal where, after sexually assaulting her, he strangled her to death.

Adjudicating the case, the district sessions court had sentenced Dhruve to death on April 9, 2025. The lower court had termed the act a blot on society and an extremely grave offence. An appeal against the lower court’s verdict was filed in the High Court. During the hearings, the HC examined the convict’s social audit report.

In its order, the division bench observed that while the act was undoubtedly highly reprehensible and driven by lust, the case did not fall under the category of the “rarest of rare” after considering the social audit report and other legal factors.

The court observed that, in accordance with legal principles, the convict should be granted an opportunity for reformation and, therefore, commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment was appropriate.

Advocate Imtiyaz Hussein told Free Press that HC commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for 25 years. “We will take up the matter in the Supreme Court. It is a matter from Narmadapuram where the trial court had awarded capital punishment to Ajay Dhruve,” Hussein said.