A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded by the Kasaragod Sessions Court to a civil contractor in a case related to the murder of a 14-year-old girl who was working as a domestic help.
The Bench comprising Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice N. Anilkumar gave the verdict while disposing of an appeal filed by K.C. Hamsa of Kasaragod, the first accused, against the award of death sentence by the Kasargod Sessions Court.
Safiya, daughter of Moidu and Ayesha of Ayyankeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka, was working as a domestic help at Hamsa’s home at Masthikkundu near Muliyar in Kasaragod. In December 2006, the family took Safiya to their house in Goa. Later, Hamsa informed her parents that the girl had gone missing from their home.
The Crime Branch took over the investigation into the missing case following sit-ins by Moidu and Aysha at the new bus stand in Kasargod town and protests by the Safiya Action Committee. The prosecution charge was that after murdering the girl, the body was cut into pieces, packed in separate bags on December 16, 2006 and dumped them in a pit near a dam in Goa.
The Bench, while reducing the sentence, observed that the accused did not have any criminal antecedents. . Taking a cue from Supreme Court judgments, the court felt that the death penalty need not be imposed on the accused.
Maimoona, wife of Hamsa and third accused, was awarded a three-year jail term under IPC Sections 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and three years for 361 (Kidnapping from lawful guardianship), while their aide M. Abdulla, fourth accused, was given three years in prison for hiding information. The second accused, Moidu Shaji, and the fifth accused, assistant sub inspector P.N. Gopalakrishnan, were acquitted for lack of evidence by the Sessions Court. The verdict of the Kasargod Sessions Court came on July 16, 2015.
The Bench acquitted the third and fourth accused from the case.
