The accused, Ameer, had told the court that he was innocent. File photosKochi: The Ernakulam principal district and sessions court on Thursday awarded capital punishment to Muhammed Ameer ul-Islam, an Assam native, in the sensational Jisha rape and murder case.
Ameer has been awarded life imprisonment for committing the rape of the woman after he was also found guilty under Indian Penal Code Section 376 (A) (causing death or causes the woman to be in persistent vegetative state while committing rape).
The judge accepted the prosecution contention that Ameer should not be allowed to return to society as he would pose a serious threat to it.
Additional director general of police B Sandhya, who led the probe, said she was happy with the sentence.
Jisha's mother thanks all
The victim's mother also thanked all those who worked in the case. "This is the day I have been waiting for. I have heard what I wanted to hear and I thank all who made it possible," she said.
"No mother should suffer like how I did," she added.
Failure of judiciary?
Counsel for the accused, B A Aloor, told the media that this was one case where the judiciary appears to have failed.
"We will certainly appeal in the Kerala High Court," said Aloor.
The court had on Wednesday rejected the defense plea for re-investigation by a central agency.
On Wednesday, the accused again told the court that he was innocent. He said he had no connection with Jisha. Ameer's counsel said all charges were foisted. The defense said Ameer did not even fully understand the questions asked by the probe team as he knew Assamese alone.
Ameer was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighboring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after the gruesome incident.However, the court rejected the defense counsel's plea and asked him to plead only on the quantum of punishment. After hearing the defense counsel, the court asked Ameer about his family to which he replied that he had a child.
'Rarest of the rare'
The prosecution had termed the case 'the rarest of the rare' and said the case was similar to the 2012 Nirbhaya case that rocked the country.
However, the defense counsel had denied this and said, in the Nirbhaya case, the court heard an eyewitness unlike in Jisha case, and hence the two cases cannot be deemed similar.
On Tuesday, Ameer ul-Islam was found guilty under various sections of the IPC including 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offense punishable with death), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) 376 (A) (causing death or causes the woman to be in persistent vegetative state while committing rape).
The accused, however, was found 'not guilty' of offenses charged under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offense) and sections under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) amendment Act 2015.
As many as 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which commenced in April 2016.
Ameer, who had left Perumbavoor soon after the crime, was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighboring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after the gruesome incident.
The incident was in focus during the state assembly poll campaign last year with political parties attacking the then Congress-led UDF regime for 'tardy' progress in the probe and 'failure' to nab culprits.
The LDF government, after assuming power on May 25 last year, changed the investigation team and entrusted the probe to ADGP B Sandhya in its first cabinet meeting itself.
More than 100 police personnel had questioned over 1,500 people. Fingerprints of over 5,000 people were also examined by the SIT.
The police said a blood-stained footwear found from a canal near the victim's house was one of the key evidence in identifying the culprit.
(With inputs from PTI/IANS)
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