The Mavelikara Additional District and Sessions Court-II on Thursday sentenced to death Viswarajan, 22, of Oachira who was found guilty of the rape and murder of a 34-year-old widow and the mother of a teenaged girl.
Pronouncing the sentence, the Judge A.Badarudheen said the court was awarding death penalty as it was the ‘rarest of rare cases.' The Court also asked the accused, Viswarajan, alias ‘Karumadi' of Santhosh Bhavan in Vayanakam in Oachira to pay a penalty of Rs.1 lakh to the victim's daughter. If the convicted person failed to pay the penalty, he would have to undergo additional Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) of six months.
Special Public Prosecutor S. Remanan Pillai said Viswarajan had also been sentenced to six months Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) under Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (wrongful confinement) and five years RI under Section 376 read with 511 (attempt to rape). The sentences will, however, run concurrently.
Habitual offender
The judge observed that the accused was a habitual offender and was a threat to the community. Mr. Pillai said the accused had two charges of rape and assault against him in the Ochira police station pending trial and another case of abducting a minor girl and sexually exploiting her. The death sentence was based on ‘circumstantial evidence,' he said.
A large crowd of people were present when the verdict was pronounced at 11 a.m. The accused was brought out of the court nearly three hours later, at 2 p.m., and taken in a police vehicle to Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail at Poojapura. A heavy deployment of police under Kayamkulam Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Devamanohar, who also supervised the investigation, was present at the court.
The incident occurred at 7 p.m. on October 24, 2011 when the victim was returning home. The accused who was hiding in the dark grabbed the victim and beat her unconscious before sexually assaulting her. He later pushed her into a paddy field. The police and local people rushed her to a hospital. However, she died while being shifted to the Alappuzha Medical College Hospital. The investigation was led by Kayamkulam Circle Inspector A.N.Shanihan, who submitted the report to the court.
