Rejecting Karnataka’s plea to impose the death penalty on cab driver Shiva Kumar, who was convicted on the charge of kidnapping, raping and murdering BPO employee Pratibha, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday upheld the trial court’s verdict of rigorous life imprisonment.
A Division Bench comprising Justice H. Billappa and Justice K.N. Phaneendra rejected the appeal filed by Shiva Kumar against the trial court’s October 2010 verdict of convicting him in the 2005 case. The Bench also dismissed the State’s appeal for death penalty.
The trial court had rightly come to the conclusion of convicting the accused with proper appreciation of evidences, the Bench said while upholding Shiva Kumar’s conviction.
On the State’s plea for the death penalty, the Bench said the sentence to life imprisonment does not call for any interference keeping in view the young age of Shiva Kumar, absence of criminal antecedent prior to this offence, and interest of his wife and young child.
Pratibha Srikantamurthy (27), who was working with HP GlobalSoft BPO in Electronics City, was kidnapped on December 13, 2005. Shiva Kumar, the driver of one of the cars assigned to transport the staff, hoodwinked her into taking his car instead of the regular car to reach office for her nightshift, and drove her to an isolated spot near Anajanapura Layout in the city where he committed the crime. Her body was found three days later.
Shiva Kumar was 22 years old when he committed the crime and his wife, who was four months pregnant then, gave birth to a boy later.
The incident had raised questions about the safety of women working in nightshifts. It had also resulted in the evolution of regulations for safety of women working in BPOs.
