Considering amongst others, his “constant efforts at being a mannequin prisoner”, the Supreme Court docket on Tuesday commuted the demise sentence of a Kerala man convicted for the brutal homicide of his spouse and 4 youngsters and raping his 12-year-old daughter earlier than killing her in 2008.
“Contemplating the info that the convict-appellant had no prior antecedents; good conduct for the previous 16-17 years of incarceration; difficulties in psychological well being and constant efforts at being a mannequin prisoner, we discover that the imposition of demise penalty can be unjustified. He’s, subsequently, faraway from demise row,” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta mentioned deciding his enchantment difficult conviction and the demise sentence.
The court docket added, ”Nevertheless , contemplating the severity of the crime, the variety of individuals killed, that out of 5, 4 have been his personal youngsters, we’re of the view that he doesn’t need to be let out and direct that he shall spend the rest of his days in jail, until his final breath, hoping to do acts of penance to atone for the crimes he has dedicated and significantly for the truth that he extinguished 4 shiny flames….The demise sentence is commuted to life imprisonment until the tip of pure life.”
Convict Reji Kumar alias Reji, a Chemistry graduate and diploma holder in pc purposes, was an agricultural labourer. In the midst of his employment, he developed intimate relations with one other lady.
Reji additionally suspected his spouse Lissy of infidelity and believed that their youngest daughter, who was solely 3-years-old when she was killed, was not his.
The couple had 4 children — three daughters aged 12, 9 and three and a son, 10. Reji tried his finest to disclaim the accusations, however the trial court docket concluded that he had certainly dedicated the murders, raped the primary daughter, hid the our bodies and brought on disappearance of proof of his acts.
The trial court docket mentioned “the way of fee of the crime was nicely organized and deliberate” and “the defence counsel’s argument that the offence was out of unhappiness and frustration, and never legal tendency, was rejected.”
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Confirming the demise sentence by its judgment on November 12, 2014, the Kerala Excessive Court docket mentioned that “info of this case would reveal that the appellant deliberate the homicide of his spouse and 4 youngsters and executed the identical in succession, throughout a interval of two weeks.”
On enchantment, the SC whereas upholding the conviction determined to look at if it could fall into the rarest of uncommon class as held by the trial court docket to warrant demise sentence. For this, it examined the annoying and mitigating circumstances of the case and the findings within the probation officer’s report, mitigating investigator’s report and the report of psychological evaluation submitted to it. Among the many mitigating elements, the court docket famous that he had an unblemished document in jail, had exhibited behaviours which are technique of dealing with overwhelming misery originating up to now from points, corresponding to parental neglect, psychological sickness and substance dependence, bodily and sexual abuse.
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