The Principal Sessions Court in Kasaragod, Kerala on Thursday awarded death penalty to first accused KC Hamzah (53), a native of Kasaragod and civil works contractor in Goa, in connetion with the cold-blooded murder of 13-year-old girl Safiya, who worked as a domestic help at his home.
Hamzah of Masthikundu in Kasaragod was also slapped with a fine of Rs10 lakh from which Rs8 lakh should be given to the poor parents of the murdered girl. If he fails to pay the fine, he will have to undergo three-year imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs5,000, as per the verdict. He was also awarded three-year imprisonment on a particular charge.
Principal Sessions Judge MJ Sakthidharan sentenced Hamzah's wife and third accused Maimuna (40) to six years' imprisonment and his relative and fourth accused M Abdullah (58) of Arikkadi Kunnu in Kumbala, Kasaragod to three years imprisonment. Both Maimuna and Abdullah were also slapped with a fine each of Rs5,000.
The court had found Hamzah, Maimuna and Abdullah guilty on Tuesday while acquitting second accused Moidu Haji, the agent who had taken Safiya from Kodagu to Kasaragod as work as domestic help, and fifth accused PN Gopalakrishnan, former Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, for want of evidence.
Awarding the sentence to the convicts, the court said that the murder was pre-planned and that it was an act of cruelty meted out to a helpless and poor girl. The existence of the first accused would be a threat to the society, it observed, adding that the case had to be seen as one belonging to the rarest-of-rare category.
The Public Prosecutor had succeeded in proving the charges of murder, abduction and concealing of crime slapped on Hamzah. Maimuna was awarded the punishment over the charges of concealing the crime and destroying evidence while Abdullah was charged with abetting concealment of crime.
As per the Prosecution's case, Hamzah had hacked Safiya, daughter of Moidu and Ayisha of Ayyankeri, Kodagu to death at his apartment in Goa on December 15, 2006. The body, chopped into pieces and packed into a plastic bag, was buried in a dam site. Forensic examinations had proved that the girl was alive when her body was sliced into three.
Safiya was brought to Hamzah's residence in Kasaragod on June 15, 2005 to work as a domestic help. A year later, she was taken to Goa where the contractor had taken up the construction work of a small dam. Safiya's parents had lodged a missing complaint with the Aadur police station in Kasaragod on December 21, 2006.
After the local police failed to make any progress in the probe over the parent's complaint, the Government handed over the case to the Crime Branch almost one-an-a-half years later following public protests and an agitation by the mother. The Crime Branch arrested Hamzah on July 1, 2008 and Safiya's body (skeleton) was exhumed from the Goa dam site on July 6, 2008.
Scientific examinations proved that the body parts found from the dam site were of Safiya. The Crime Branch, which had depended wholly on scientific evidences to prove the case in the absence of eyewitnesses, found out that Hamzah had murdered Safiya, who had suffered serious burn injuries, in cold blood instead of getting her medical help.
"My child is not going to come back but I am happy that the court has awarded death sentence to this cruel man," said Ayisha, Safiya's mother. "I thank all those who had stood by us in this. I consider the punishment as given by God himself," she added.