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exclude all possible hypothesis except the one to be proved – The facts so established must be consistent with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused and the chain of evidence must be so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probability, the act must have been done by the accused. Sentence / Sentencing – Death sentence – When warranted – Rarest of the rare case – Held: “Rarest of the rare case ” comes when a convict would be a menace and threat to the harmonious and peaceful co-existence of the society – The manner in which the crime is committed must be such that it may result in intense and extreme indignation of the community and shock the collective conscience of the society – Where an accused does not act on any spur-of-the-moment provocation and indulges himself in a deliberately planned crime and meticulously executes it, the death sentence may be the most appropriate punishment – The death sentence may be warranted where the victims are innocent children and helpless women – In case the crime is committed in a most cruel and inhuman manner which is in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and dastardly manner, where the act affects the entire moral fiber of the society, e.g. crime committed for power or political ambition or indulge in organized criminal activities, death sentence should be awarded – For awarding the death sentence, there must be existence of aggravating circumstances and the consequential absence of mitigating circumstances – As to whether death sentence should be awarded, would depend upon the factual scenario of the case in hand. According to the prosecution, the appellant caused the death of a minor girl aged 10 years by strangulating her after committing rape on her. There was no eye-witness to the incident and the case was based on circumstantial evidence. The trial court convicted th