12 June 2025 :
Calcutta High Court on June 11, 2025 commuted the death penalty awarded to a 24-year-old, for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 45 times, to life imprisonment without remission for 40 years.
The HC said the murder was not the "rarest of rare" and considered the accused's age to spare him the noose.
Sutapa Chowdhury and Susanta Choudhury met during tuitions when they were in school. They began a relationship but Susanta's addiction issues and jealous behaviour prompted Sutapa to cut ties in 2021. Susanta then began harassing her. Sutapa's father lodged a complaint against Susanta at Malda Women Police Station and also got in touch with the local councillor.
On May 2, 2022, Susanta, who was then studying engineering, accosted Sutapa (21), who was then a third-year student of Berhampore Girls' College, outside her mess when she was coming back from a movie. He stabbed her 45 times; witnesses said he continued to hack at her even after her limp body fell to the ground. During the murder, Susanta brandished a toy gun — which he had bought from Flipkart —to ward off onlookers, including a journalist, a businessman and his three employees, who tried to rescue the woman using a bamboo stick.
He fled the scene but was caught by a sub-inspector of Shamsherganj police station at a naka checking in Darbanga More on NH 34, as he was trying to escape to Malda.
Susanta was awarded the death penalty by a trial court, which called the case ‘rarest of rare'. He appealed before the HC division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi. His counsel, Kallol Mondal, argued that Susanta was triggered by "intense emotional disturbance and heartbreak" due to the failed personal relationship. The division bench did not agree, saying: "The manner of murder is gruesome.""The age of the appellant is in favour of the appellant. The nature of the crime cannot be classified as the rarest of rare cases," the HC said, adding: "The appellant shall also pay a fine of Rs 50,000, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for five years more for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code." Susanta was also convicted under the Arms Act, which was upheld by the HC. Both sentences will run concurrently.
