THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Justice Markandey Katju has criticized the Supreme Court judgment in the Soumya case and offered all possible help to Kerala Government to reopen the case and get murder conviction for Govindachamy. “I won’t appear in the apex court but I can render advice to Kerala Government if it seeks my assistance”, Justice Katju told the media. He said in his FB post that the SC had found the accused not guilty of murder and so set aside the death sentence awarded by the High Court. However, it upheld the life sentence for rape under section 376, and imposed punishment of 7 years imprisonment under section 325.
In acquitting the accused of murder the Court held that there was no evidence that the accused had any intention of causing the death of Soumya and so could not be convicted under section 302 IPC. The Court held it was possible that after being assaulted on the head four or five times and then raped, Soumya might herself have jumped off the train. However the Court found the accused guilty of rape under section 376 and also guilty of some other provisions of the IPC.
Justice Markanteya Katju’s Facebook post.
The Court observed that P.W. 4 and P.W. 40, travelling on a coach adjacent to the ladies compartment in which Soumya was travelling alone, said that they were told by a middle-aged person in their compartment that Soumya had herself jumped off the train. But the evidence of P.W. 4 and 40 was hearsay, which was inadmissible in evidence. How could the Supreme Court have relied on it? This is a gross error in the judgment.
Section 300 states that it is a case of murder (for which capital punishment can be imposed under section 302) even if there was no intention to kill, if the accused inflicts a wound sufficient to cause the death of a person in the ordinary course of nature. With respect to the Supreme Court it has totally ignored the third part of section 300, and Illustration (c). The head is a vital part of the body of a human, and repeated banging it against a wall is sufficient in the ordinary cause to cause death. “I submit that the Supreme Court has erred in law in not holding the accused guilty of murder, and its judgment needs to be reviewed to this extent...”, says Justice Katju.
