If hostage is looked after well, kidnapper cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment: SC

New Delhi, June 30: In an interesting judgment, the Supreme Court has said that if a person kidnaps a child and does not threaten to kill him or her and also looks after the minor well, then he cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code.

A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Subhash Reddy said that the court concludes that the essential ingredients to convict an accused under Section 364A requires the prosecution to prove the following:

1. Kidnapping or abduction of any person or keeping a person in detention after such kidnapping or abduction
2. Threatens to cause death or hurt to such person, or by his conduct gives rise to a reasonable apprehension that such person may be put to death or hurt
3. Causes hurt or death to such person in order to compel the Government or any foreign State or any Governmental organisation or any other person to do or abstain from doing any act or to pay a ransom.

In addition to the first condition, either condition 2 or 3 have to be proved against the accused, failing which the conviction under Section 364A cannot be sentenced.

Section 364A was inserted into the Indian Penal Code in 1993 by Parliament and a three judge Bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the same in August 2015. The court had said that Section 364A came into the statute book initially not only because kidnapping and abduction for ransom were becoming rampant and the Law Commission had recommended that a separate provision making the same punishable be incorporated but also because activities of terrorist organisations had acquired menacing dimensions that called for an effective legal framework to prevent such ransom situations and punish those responsible for the same.

In the instant case, the court was dealing with an auto driver who had kidnapped a Class 6 student of the St. Marys School, Secunderabad on the pretext of dropping him home. He had taken the child to his home and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. In their deposition in the trial court, the child and his father said that the kidnapper had treated the boy well and also never threatened to kill or harm the boy. The trial court however convicted him under Section 364A and the same was upheld by the High Court.

The auto driver challenged the order of the HC and said that there was no threat to the life of the hostage and hence he could be convicted under Section 363, which attracted a maximum punishment of seven years imprisonment. The Supreme Court set aside the order of the High Court and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000.

What is Section 364A of the Indian Penal Code:

Kidnapping for ransom, etc.-Whoever kidnaps or abducts any person or keeps a person in detention after such kidnapping or abduction and threatens to cause death or hurt to such person, or by his conduct gives rise to a reasonable apprehension that such person may be put to death or hurt, or causes hurt or death to such person in order to compel the Government or 2[any foreign State or international inter-governmental organisation or any other person] to do or abstain from doing any act or to pay a ransom, shall be punishable with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.]