Abolish Death Penalty India: Justice S Nagamuthu

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Double murder: Death penalty commuted (Tamil Nadu)

TNN | Jun 11, 2016, 12.00 AM IST

Chennai: A Coimbatore youth who faced the gallows for a double murder of women over land dispute will have a reason to smile now, as the Madras high court has commuted his penalty into one of imprisonment for life. The convict, however, will not be eligible for any remission for 20 years. A division bench of Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice V Bharathidasan, allowing the plea of Rajiv Gandhi alias Marimuthu on Thursday, said though it was a matter of concern that the youth had earlier been convicted in a murder case and served a 7- year term proving he is a repeat offender, the double murder would not fall in the rarest of rare category.

The case relates to a February 11, 2012 incident, wherein Marimuthu hacked two women – Palaniammal and Jothimani – over ownership of a piece of land at Sungam village in Pollachi taluk of Coimbatore. There were a total of two accused including Marimuthu. As the second accused died during the pendency of the trial charges against him abated, leaving only Marimuthu to face the trial. On March 30, 2016 the IV additional district and sessions court in Coimbatore found him guilty of the murders, and awarded death penalty. However, hearing the referred the trial and Marimuthu's appeal against the sentence and conviction, the bench said killing of two women was indeed brutal and gruesome and could not be tolerated by any man of ordinary prudence.

Noting that the trial court might have been influenced by the fact that Marimuthu had already been punished for murder, having served seven years in jail, the judges said motive for the latest murders had nothing to do with the earlier murder. Weighting the mitigating circumstances such as age and land dispute being motive, the judges said, "in our view it is not as though the sentence of imprisonment for life would be inadequate…There is no 0% mitigating circumstance in the instance case. We are of the view that so far as the murders of the two women is concerned, imprisonment for life would be the adequate punishment.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Double-murder-Death-penalty-commuted/articleshow/52695668.cms (Accessed 20 December 2018)

HC Commutes Death Sentence to Life in Triple Murder Case (Tamil Nadu)

02 APRIL 2016 Last Updated at 6:01 PM

The Madras High Court has set aside the death sentence awarded to a youth, who murdered his aunt and her two children in 2012 after she exposed his bid to molest her, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Noting that the convict was hardly aged 20 at the time of the triple murder and had attempted suicide after the crime, the court said he was an adolescent offender and there were lot of chances for his reformation. The court, however, made it clear that Deepu shall not be considered for any remission for a period of 20 years from the date of trial court judgment -- December 16, 2014 -- as he had killed two "innocent, hapless and helpless children". A bench comprising justices M Jaichandren and S Nagamuthu passed the orders on the appeal filed by Deepu of Gudalur in Nilgiris district and the referred trial by the state for confirmation of death sentence awarded by a fast track mahila court in Udhagamandalm.

It held that the trial court had not taken into account several mitigating circumstances and instead gone by the aggravating circumstances, in particular the brutality of the crime in which three helpless and hapless victims were killed. According to prosecution, Deepu, who had discontinued studies after class X and remained idle in house for three-and-a-half years till he committed the murders, had made sexual advances toward his aunt, wife of his father's brother, in mid 2010. As she informed his father about it, he had developed an ill-feeling toward her. On January 10, 2012, he killed his aunt and her daughter and son using a knife in their house.

The high court referring to several Supreme Court judgements said there were a lot of mitigating circumstances in this case. "The conviction in this case is based on circumstantial evidence... At the time of occurrence, the accused was hardly aged 20 years and he was adolescent offender. He had no bad antecedents. After having committed the crime, killing three people out of depression, the accused himself had attempted to commit suicide. Now there is lot of chances for his reformation," the bench said in its order. "We are of the view that sentencing the appellant to undergo imprisonment for life for each murder would meet the ends of justice," the bench said, adding the sentences would run concurrently.

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/hc-commutes-death-sentence-to-life-in-triple-murder-case/935368 (Accessed 20 December 2018)

The Death Penalty Scenario in India

India is one of 193 countries that retains the death penalty. Some judges have delivered landmark verdicts upholding the rights of death row prisoners, while debates continue advocating abolition or reform of sentencing policies. The Indian government remains committed to retention, asserting executions occur only in “rarest of rare” cases. The death penalty applies to crimes including murder, kidnapping, terrorism, desertion, inducement to suicide of a minor or mentally-retarded person, and in certain cases of rape. Outrage over child rape and murder has intensified these discussions. After an unofficial eight-year moratorium, the government executed Ajmal Kasab (Mumbai attacks) in 2012 and Afzal Guru (Parliament attack) in 2013, both covertly and immediately after mercy petitions were rejected. Prior to this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed in 2004 after 13 years on death row. Following these, many mercy petitions have been rejected, creating fear among death row convicts. Courts continue to hand down death sentences at an increasing rate. Empirical studies highlight the plight of death row prisoners. The India Exclusion Report 2017-18 found fair trial rights largely denied, with convicts often marginalized by caste, religion, poverty, and education. The Death Penalty Research Project (2015) documented socio-economic profiles and experiences of death row prisoners. Dr. Reena Mary George’s studies (2014, 2009) emphasized poverty, social exclusion, and dignity as central to death row experiences, and examined the human rights impact of the penalty. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2015, 101 prisoners were on death row, with many sentences commuted to life. The “rarest of rare” doctrine introduced by the Supreme Court in the 1980s has not substantially limited death sentences, which have increased over the decades. Justice Joseph (2018) reaffirmed the Bachan Singh judgment but urged restriction of the death penalty to only those cases meeting its criteria. While updating the blog and conducting my own empirical studies, I observed the heinous nature of the crimes that were committed and thought about the families, about their loss, about the victims who for no fault of their own died. If I lost my relative or a dear friend, would I still oppose death penalty and would I still advocate to abolish the death sentence? Having worked in the criminal justice system and also having the seen the other side, where often it is the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed who are on death row makes me want to advocate for abolition of this punishment. Victims should definitely get justice for their loss, for their pain. No one should escape the rule of law. As long as humanity exists; crime will exist. Should we not re-consider our sentencing policies? Reena Mary George