(Left) Govindachamy, SoumyaNew Delhi: The Supreme Court dismissed a curative petition in the Soumya rape-and-murder case with an observation that there was no scope for a public hearing. A six-judge bench of chief justice J S Khehar and justices Dipak Misra, Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla Chandra Pant and Uday Umesh Lalit dismissed in the chamber the Kerala government’s petition to reinstate capital punishment for the accused.
A bench of justices Gogoi, Pant and Lalit struck down last year the capital punishment awarded to Govindachamy by a lower court. The bench had said that the prosecution could not prove the murder charge against the accused. He was convicted of raping the 23-year-old girl in February 2011 and sentenced to life term imprisonment.
The court relied on the statements of fourth witness Tomy Devassy and 40th witness Abdul Shukoor, who were traveling in a coach next to the one in which Soumya had traveled on the day of her death. Both the witnesses said that they were told by a man standing at the door that the girl just jumped off the moving train. The court said it was not clear if Soumya was pushed off the train or she jumped off it.
The police came under fire for their handling of the case in the early stages. Some of the statements of witnesses included in the charge sheet were contradictory to the accusations, weakening the prosecution’s case.
Soumya murder case even resulted in a high-profile tussle between a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and a retired judge. Former Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju rubbed the court the wrong way when he criticized the judgment. The court summoned him on October 17, 2016 to explain his note.
Katju appeared in the court and followed up his point with a heated argument with justice Gogoi. Katju, who was served a contempt of court notice, issued an unconditional apology in January. The Supreme Court has dropped the proceedings against him.
