Calcutta High Court commutes death sentence of man who stabbed ex-girlfriend 45 times

The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man who was convicted of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 45 times. The court modified the sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of remission for 30 years. While upholding the conviction for murder, the High Court considered various mitigating factors and the legal principles laid down by the Supreme Court for awarding the death penalty. The court likely concluded that while the crime was heinous, it did not fall into the "rarest of rare" category, which is the benchmark for capital punishment in India. The decision to impose a fixed-term life sentence without remission ensures that the convict remains incarcerated for a significant period, balancing the need for punishment with the high legal threshold required for the death penalty.