New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a judgment of the Kerala High Court acquitting Ripper Jayananan in the Perinjanam double case of 2004. Since he is involved in several other cases, he continues to be in prison and he cannot come out now.
A bench of Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and R.K. Agrawal dismissed an appeal filed by the Kerala government challenging the High Court verdict. The Bench after hearing counsel George observed that judiciary needs evidence to convict a person. When the High Court had rendered a finding of acquittal, why should we interfere, the Bench asked and dismissed the appeal without giving any reasons.
The Thrissur Principal Judge had in June 2008 awarded death sentence to Jayanandan in the Perinjanam case in which he is accused of killing two members of a family—Kalapurackkal Sahadevan and his wife Nirmala on October 4, 2004.
The trial judge held that this was one of the rarest of rare cases warranting death penalty. On appeal the High Court reversed the order and acquitted him. The Kerala government filed the appeal in the apex court seeking to quash the High Court order and to sustain the trial court’s finding.
