It was with shock and disbelief that Kerala on Thursday received the news of the Supreme Court’s verdict that set aside the death sentence awarded to the convict, Govindachamy, by the trial court and ratified by the High Court in the sensational case pertaining to the brutal rape and murder of 23-year-old Soumya in February, 2011.
“The verdict is heartbreaking,” said Sumathy, mother of Soumya, through sobs and tears. Stating that such a verdict came from the apex court only because the lawyers engaged by the State Government handling the case were not good at arguments, Sumathy said, “We did not get justice. I will continue my struggle for justice.”
According to the three-judge Supreme Court Bench which set aside the death sentence, the Prosecution had not been able to produce sufficient evidence to prove the charge of murder against Govindachamy, a handicapped Tamil Nadu native, and he deserved the benefit of doubt. The State Government said it would file a review petition in the apex court.
The apex court said in the 21-page judgement that it was not interfering with the imprisonment, awarded by the trial court — and confirmed by the High Court — to Govindachamy, who had challenged the death sentence through an appeal, for rape, theft, trespassing and other proven charges.
Govindachamy was accused of brutally raping Soumya, hailing from Shoranur in Palakkad district, in a deserted ladies compartment of the Ernakulam-Shoranur Passenger train and murdering her by pushing her out of the slow-running train on the night of February 1, 2011 at a place just a few kilomentres away from her native village.
Soumya was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur in a critical condition. She died on February 6. The Fast Track Court-1 in Thrissur awarded death sentence to Govindachamy, who was arrested on February 2, on November 11, 2011 for murder and the High Court upheld that verdict on December 7, 2013.
Amidst arguments in the case on September 8, the Supreme Court had observed that the Prosecution did not have evidences to establish that Govindachamy himself had murdered Soumya by pushing her out of the running train.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that the Government would file a review plea in the apex court and ensure the help of efficient lawyers for getting justice for the victim’s family while State Congress president VM Sudheeran said the verdict had literally shocked Kerala. State BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan also termed the verdict as unfortunate.
Soumya’s mother said it was the Prosecution lawyers’ inefficiency and not the absence of evidences that had prompted the court to set aside the death sentence. “The verdict would have been different if lawyer A Suresan (who was Special Prosecutor in the case in the trial court) had argued the case in the Supreme Court,” she added.
A political war broke out in the State on Thursday over the apex court verdict with the Congress accusing the CPI(M)-led lDF Government of failing to handle the case properly. The CPI(M) and the Government denied the charge pointing out that it was the previous UDF Government which had constituted the team of government’s lawyers for case in the Supreme Court.
Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, during whose tenure the lawyers’ team for handling the case in the apex court was constituted, accused the present Government of committing grave mistakes by not ensuring discussions between that team and lawyer Suresan before the case came up in the Supreme Court.
law Minister AK Balan rejected the charge saying that Suresan had not provided help despite the legal team’s requests. At the same time, demonstrations were held at several places in the State by the Yuva Morcha and the Youth Congress in protest against the verdict. Effigies of Chief Minister Pinarayi were burned by the protestors in many places.
Dr Sherly Vasu, who had overseen the postmortem of Soumya’s body, insisted that she was pushed out of the train by Govindachamy himself.
According to BA Aloor, counsel for the accused, Soumya had been denied justice. “Soumya would have got justice if the police had investigated the case properly and honestly and collected actual evidences.