SOUMYA CASE

The honorable Supreme Court of India has set aside the death sentence imposed by the honorable High Court of  Kerala, in the Soumya case. But the apex court confirmed the sentence of life imprisonment for the brutal rape committed on Soumya by the accused Govindachami. A three-judge Bench comprising of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla C. Pant and Uday Lalit gave this verdict on an appeal filed by death-row convict Govindachamy. He challenged the  High Court judgement confirming the order of the Thrissur Fast Track Court awarding him death sentence. The incident occurred  on 6th Februery 2011.

The prosicution case was that Govindachami pushed Soumya out of the compartment of train after trying to rob her. Thereafter he has committed rape on her,who had already suffered extreme injuries due to the fall .She died on the spot. The apex court found that as per the evidences of the prosecution witnesses, it is clear that the accused had committed rape.The DNA profile also supported the evidence. And therefore the apex court did not find any difficulty in confirming the life imprisonment awarded for rape.The court observed that not only the offence under Section 376 IPC was committed by the accused , the same was so committed in a most brutal and grotesque manner. Hence the imposition of life sentence was awarded by the trial court and confirmed by the HC.

The murder charge against convict Govindachamy in the Soumya case fell flat on a contradiction i the prosecution argument that the assailant had  pushed the victim out of the train and the eye witness statement that a passenger had seen her jump off the train. Relying on expert findings, the prosecution had contended that injuries suffered by Soumya were the result of a fall after being pushed off her from the running train.Though the Supreme Court set aside Govindachamy's death sentence, he will have to remain in the jail for his entire life, owing to the confirmation of the life imprisonment awarded for the the rape under Section 376 the Indian Penal Code.

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