“Present-day youngsters fall short of the emotional quotient and even the slightest disturbance and rejection make them take the extreme step without understanding the consequences. It is high time our educational system focussed more on the emotional quotient than on the intelligence quotient,” observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. It upheld the life sentence imposed by a trial court on a man for killing a schoolgirl as she had rejected his love proposal.
The court was hearing the appeal preferred by Balamurugan of Madurai district who challenged the judgment of the Madurai Mahila court that sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2019. The prosecution case is that the appellant, an AC mechanic, was in love with a 14-year-old girl studying in Class IX. Despite the girl rejecting his proposal, he kept harassing her. A complaint was lodged with the all-women police station in Tirumangalam in 2017. In 2018, when the girl was returning from school, he intercepted her, poured petrol on her and set her on fire. She was rushed to the Tirumangalam government hospital and later referred to the Government Rajaji Hospital. The girl succumbed to her injuries about 10 days later.
‘Gory killing’
A Division Bench of Justices J. Nisha Banu and N. Anand Venkatesh observed that this was yet another case where a man did not have the maturity to accept the rejection of a love proposal. Hence, he decided to kill her in a gory fashion by pouring petrol on her and setting her on fire. This loathsome act was committed by the appellant with the only motive that the girl who did not reciprocate the love proposal made by him, should not live in this world and she should not have any relationship with anybody else in this world.
The judges observed that such incidents are on the rise and it only reflects the fact that man considers woman like a chattel and he wants to own or forcibly take her under his control, without understanding that a woman is also a human being, who is entitled to decide on her wishes.
“Love and hate are related to each other in a complex manner. There has been a serious study by psychologists as to how under certain conditions, a person's love generates a corresponding level of hate when negative events occur with his or her romantic partner. Whatever may be the result of the study, mutual respect for a woman must start from home and it must be inculcated by the parents and society”, the court said.
The Bench felt that the present-day youth fall too short on the emotional quotient and even the slightest disturbance and rejection makes them take extreme steps. It is high time our educational system starts focusing more on the emotional quotient than on the intelligence quotient. If this is not done, howsoever successful or bright an youngster may be, he is not ready to take up emotional challenges and the situation worsens when the parents, instead of guiding their children, start pampering them.
‘Monstrous act’
“This case requires this prelude since a man aged about 28 years was going behind a girl, who was studying in 9th standard and was expecting her to react positively and get into a love affair and when it did not fructify, he chose to resort to a monstrous act of pouring petrol on the girl and setting her on fire. He did not realise that this foolish act will bring to an end his connections with society to a grinding halt and will confine him to the prison for his life”, the judges observed.
The Bench said the court was convinced with the evidence of the eyewitnesses supported by the dying declaration of the deceased. As per the chemical examination report, petrol was detected in almost all material objects. Hence, the accused pouring petrol on the deceased and setting her on fire had been sufficiently proved through scientific evidence, the judges said and confirmed the life sentence imposed on the man by the trial court.
