New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in open court on Friday the petitions filed by the state of Kerala and the mother of Soumya seeking a review of the September 15 verdict setting aside the murder charge on the accused Govindachamy and awarding him life imprisonment for rape. The Thrissur Fast Track Court had awarded death sentence to the accused for the February 1, 2011 incident and the Kerala High Court had confirmed this order. The prosecution case was that Govindachamy had raped Soumya in the compartment of the Ernakulam train after trying to rob her.
He then pushed her out of the train and the injured woman died on February 6, 2011. Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar appearing for Kerala made a ‘mention’ before a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant about the filing of the review petitions and requested that they may be heard in open court instead of in the judge’s chamber as is the usual practice. The Bench agreed for open court hearing and it will be listed on Friday. Kerala contended that a grave miscarriage of justice has occurred and there is error apparent on the face of the record as the accused Govnidachamy ought to have been awarded capital punishment for the brutal murder committed by him.
In its petition Kerala government said the September 15 judgment rests principally on one issue, i.e., that there is no evidence that the deceased was pushed out of a moving train and that the statements of prosecution witnesses who were travelling in the next compartment to the effect that they were told by a middle-aged person who was sitting near the compartment door that a girl jumped out of the train. Kerala said that in a situation where the deceased is facing such heinous offences and crimes day by day it is necessary to deal with such cases with a stern hand. In her review petition, Soumya’s mother Sumathi submitted that there was enough material evidence to warrant imposition of death penalty under IPC Section 302 (murder).
