A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court will deliver its judgment on Tuesday on the appeal filed by the accused in the Soumya murder case against the Thrissur Fast Track Court’s verdict sentencing him to death.
The verdict will be pronounced by a Bench comprising Justice T.R. Ramchadran Nair and Justice Kemal Pasha.
The murder took place on February 1, 2011. The fast track court had awarded death sentence to Govindachamy from Virudhachalam in Tamil Nadu, the sole accused in the case, nine moths after the gruesome killing.
According to the prosecution, Govindachamy had pushed Soumya, 23, out of the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1 after attempting to rob her. He had raped the seriously injured woman after she fell down in woods nearby the railway track at Vallathole Nagar. She succumbed to injuries at the Thrissur Government Medical College Hospital on February 6.
The fast track court had observed that the brutal rape was one of the reasons for the death of Soumya. There was no legal or moral justification for the act. The nature of the crime was savage. Society’s conscience was shaken by the murder, the court had observed. The court had added that Govindachamy was a habitual offender, who had already been convicted in eight cases [in Tamil Nadu]. This indicated that he was a menace to society and was incapable of rehabilitation.
