High Court commutes death sentence to life term

Accused had murdered two people in 2012

The Madras High Court on Thursday commuted the death sentence awarded to the accused in a double murder case to life term, observing that the case does not fall within the category of rarest of rare cases as enunciated by the Supreme Court.

A Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and V. Bharathidasan passed the order on a referred trial and a criminal appeal moved by the person accused - Rajiv Gandhi alias Marimuthu.

According to the prosecution, Rajiv Gandhi was a resident of Sungam village, Pollachi Taluk, Coimbatore. He was in possession of a government

poromboke land which had tamarind trees.

On account of the dispute regarding the possession of the land and the right to collect tamarind from the trees, he had a dispute with his neighbours Palaniammal, Jothimani and Magudeeswari. As his neighbours refused to give up their right to collect tamarind from the land, on February 11, 2012 at about 8 pm he reportedly hacked Palaniammal and Jothimani to death, and injured Magudeeswari who came to their rescue.

Based on material evidence and witnesses, the IV Additional District and Sessions Judge, Coimbatore convicted him under section 302 (murder) (two counts), 307 (attempt to murder), and 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of IPC and awarded him death sentence.

When the pleas came up for hearing the Bench said, “Over 36 years, the Apex Court while dealing with the rarest of rare doctrine, has been endeavouring to impress upon the judiciary as to what exactly is the rarest of rare case which warrants the extreme penalty… It is enough for us to state that while deciding the quantum of punishment, the court is obliged to balance between the aggravating and the mitigating circumstances and impose appropriate punishment.”

The Madras HC observed that the case did not fall under the category of rarest of rare cases