Noting that the prosecution itself is not sure of the “degree of accuracy of the evidence”, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the review petitions filed against the commutation of death penalty to the sole convict Govindaswamy in the sensational Soumya case.
“You are not yourself sure of the degree of accuracy of your own evidence and you are asking us to sentence a man to death?” a three-judge Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Kerala.
Dismissing the petitions filed by the State and Saumya's mother, the Bench, also comprising Justices P.C. Pant and U.U. Lalit, said there was no error apparent on the face of their September 15 judgment sparing the life of the condemned man.
The court had set aside the charge of murder — for which the convict was awarded capital punishment — and reduced Govindswamy's death penalty to a seven-year imprisonment for causing “grievous hurt” to Soumya.
The hearing was opened by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju, who was invited by the Bench to debate his claims on social media that the September 15 judgment suffered several “fundamental flaws”.
Exhorting the court to use “some common sense”, Justice Katju submitted that Govindachamy's assault on Saumya was so violent that not only did she fracture her head, but she sustained deep injuries.
“So how does it matter if she jumped out of the moving train or pushed out? She was trying to escape a “murderous assault”. Do you expect the girl to stay on in the train and die?” Justice Katju argued.
Justice Katju submitted that after the assault, the grievously injured and “half-dead” victim may have even staggered out of the compartment door.
But the court countered, saying that this narrative of Justice Katju's was a mere presumption and there was no evidence to conclusively prove that she either staggered out or was pushed out.
The former judge then asked how the court could have believed the “hearsay” evidence of two prosecution witnesses who gave the version of an “unknown and unidentified middle-aged man” on the train. The middle-aged man, they said to the police, had seen Saumya jump and escape from the train.
“It was a dark, winter night. How can this unnamed man, whose description was not given, claim to have seen her jump out and even claim that he saw her alive despite the fact that he was on a moving train?” Justice Katju asked.
Justice Lalit countered that the Supreme Court has already acknowledged that the attack inside the train was brutal, but it was the prosecution's medical evidence that showed that this injury was not enough to cause her death.
Besides the court countered that it was two of prosecution's own witnesses that claimed that the victim was alive and jumped out and escaped from the train.
“We cannot be expected to improve upon the prosecution story,” Justice Lalit observed.
Govindaswamy escaped the noose for murder but was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape by the Supreme Court.
Six years ago in 2011, Soumya, who was travelling alone in a ladies coach on the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train was attacked by the convict. She was found on the rail tracks and died days after. eom
