The Madras High Court in a judgment which would go down in history as a landmark verdict upheld on Wednesday the death sentence awarded by a trial court to the accused in a rape and murder case. The bench consisting of judges S Vaidyanathan and G Jayachandran quoted profusely from Thirukural, the Holy Quran and The Bible along with previous judgments by the Supreme Court to explain why they were rejecting the appeal filed by the accused challenging the trial court verdict.
The prosecution case was that a seven year old girl of a mentally challenged mother was enticed and wooed by Samivel alias Raja , the sole accused, and took her to a secluded place and subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault. The incident happened on June 30, 2020 at 3 pm. After fulfilling his desires the accused murdered the girl in a gruesome manner and dumped her body in a temple pond situated in a secluded area.
The girl belonged to scheduled caste community. When her father came to know that she has not returned home even after 6 pm, he filed a missing person complaint with the local police station. It was on the next day some local residents came across the dead body of the girl lying in the unused pond covered with shrubs and plants. The investigation by the local police based on the revelations made by local people took them to Samivel who spilled the beans on interrogation.
The charge sheet framed by the investigating officer established the culpability of the accused beyond any doubt and hence the sessions judge, Pudukottai sentenced Samivel to death penalty describing the case as a rarest of rare cases, a benchmark specified by the apex court.
The High Court judges concurred with the findings of the trial court. "We find that the judgment of the Trial Court fulfilled all the touchstone to determine that it is one of the rarest of rare cases for imposition of death sentence, as imposition of any other punishment much less life imprisonment is completely insufficient and inadequate and would not meet the ends of justice. Taking into consideration the brutality of attack, the barbaric manner in which the deceased child was murdered and the mental agony undergone by the parents, we find that except death sentence, no other sentence will be adequate. We have examined this case more carefully and having given our anxious thought to the facts, we have found that the mitigating circumstances in favour of the accused herein is no match to the aggravating circumstances," said the Justices.
The justices further stated that they were little hesitant initially to take away a life of a person by way of a judicial order and thought of converting the punishment into the one of life imprisonment. “But, after due deliberation and contemplation, we were reminded of the preaching of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battle field that everyone is going to disappear from the World, even if he (Arjuna) does not shoot the enemies with arrows, even though they are relatives / known persons. Further saying, when a particular duty is given to a person, he has to discharge the same without fear or favour”.
Their Lordships also pointed out that no religion will encourage murdering of other fellow human being. “In the Holy Quran, it is unequivocally stated, "Whosoever killed a person... it shall be as if he had killed all mankind" (5:32). In the Bible (Numbers 35:30-31), it is ascribed that “ If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death”.