As per case facts, Mohd. Chaman appealed against a Delhi High Court judgment that confirmed his death sentence for the rape and murder of a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, Ritu. The incident ... occurred when the victim's mother left her daughters with a neighbour. Upon returning, the mother found Ritu missing and later discovered her unconscious in Mohd. Chaman's room. Ritu was found with severe injuries, including bite marks, swollen private parts, and a lacerated liver, leading to her death from haemorrhagic shock. The trial court convicted Mohd. Chaman under Sections 302 and 376 IPC, deeming it a "rarest of rare" case due to the barbaric nature of the crime and the innocent victim, and imposed the death penalty, which the High Court upheld.The question arose whether Mohd. Chaman deserved the death penalty, considering the principles established in precedents like Bachan Singh vs. State of Punjab and Machhi Singh & Ors. Vs. State of Punjab, which guide the imposition of capital punishment in "rarest of rare cases."Finally, the Supreme Court, while acknowledging the heinous nature of the crime and the appellant's reprehensible conduct, was not persuaded that the case met the criteria for a "rarest of rare" case deserving the death penalty. The Court emphasized a humanist approach, considering that even with maximum weightage to mitigating circumstances, the alternative of life imprisonment was not inadequate. Consequently, the Court set aside the death sentence, modifying it to rigorous imprisonment for life, and dismissed the appeals with this modification.