The Madras High Court Bench has expressed shock over a Sessions Court judge here imposing 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on two convicts under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, though the legal provision warrants either death or life sentence.
Taking serious note of the grave error committed by the judicial officer, a Division Bench comprising Justices A. Selvam and T. Mathivanan directed the Registrar (Judicial) T. Venkattakrishnan of the High Court Bench to place the matter, along with relevant records, before Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul for initiating necessary action on the issue.
The judges came across the case during the hearing of a criminal appeal filed by the brother of a person who was murdered by the convicts along with few others. According to the appellant, P. Senthil of Sammattipuram here, his brother P. Ilayaraja had business rivalry with the convicts since all of them were involved in supply of wet flour to hotels in the city.
The convicts stabbed the appellant’s brother to death at the junction of Sammattipuram main road and Bharathiyar Main Road on July 1, 2008. The S.S. Colony police here booked a case against six individuals, including Logu alias Loganathan, and made them face trial before an Additional District and Sessions Court here.
The Sessions Court on September 10, 2014 acquitted two of the accused of all charges and convicted the others under Section 302 of IPC.
However, the court imposed life sentence on only two of the convicts and imposed 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on two others.
Hence, the appellant moved the High Court to get the punishment enhanced.
In fact, the legal provision warrants either death or life sentence for murder
