HC confirms life sentence for seven men in kidnap case

Madurai

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday confirmed the life sentence awarded by a lower court in Madurai to seven men on the charges of kidnapping and threatening to kill an entrepreneur. They had demanded ransom from his family.

A Division Bench of Justices S. Vaidyanathan and N. Anand Venkatesh observed that Section 364 (A) of the Indian Penal Code was introduced by way of amendment, providing for a severe punishment for kidnap.

This punishment was brought in to curb kidnapping and abduction for ransom which was rampant. Apart from the ransom demanded in the case, the victim was also put on fear of death and an extortion was also made by inducing the victim to deliver ransom, the court said.

Expressing displeasure over the investigation in the case, the court said that there was substantial delay in producing material documents, be it with regard to filing the compliant in the case and FIR or other documents.

However, the court observed that it was not as if in every case, where there was a delay, the entire case of the prosecution had to be doubted and thrown out. There was no universal rule that whenever there was a delay, the court had to assume that it was intentional.

The court reiterated that if any investigating officer or police officer registering the FIR failed to comply with guidelines and despatched the material documents with delay, without proper explanation, the same should be construed as misconduct and disciplinary proceedings must be initiated. The court directed that the copy of the order be marked to the DGP, IG of all zones and Police Commissioners and dismissed the criminal appeals.

The High Court was hearing the criminal appeals preferred by Muniyandi, Ganesan, Auto Ganesan, Pushparaj, Muthukumar, Arunkannu and Sasikumar. The accused were awarded life sentence by the IV Additional District and Sessions Judge, Madurai, for kidnapping Janarthanan, an entrepreneur, and demanding ransom.