In prison, Kerala techie on death row takes charge of computerisation

Published: April 20, 2016 17:50 Akhel Mathew, Correspondent

Reports indicate that he is well-behaved in prison

Thiruvananthapuram: Prisoners are normally those who are in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. But a Kerala techie who was sentenced this week to death for a double murder, has turned just the right person for jail authorities in the state capital. The seasoned IT expert has been put in charge of the prison’s computerisation works. Death row convicts in India typically spend years in prison, and therefore the jail should be able to use Mathew’s tech expertise for a considerable time.

Nino Mathew, 40, and his colleague Anushanti, 32, were sentenced this week to death and a double life sentence respectively, for a double-murder committed in April 2014. Mathew, a married man and a father of one child, fell in love with Anushanti, wife of one Lijeesh, and the duo planned to do away with Lijeesh and his daughter Swastika, 4, to live the rest of their lives together. Accordingly, Mathew reached Lijeesh’s house on April 16, 2014 and hacked to death Lijeesh’s mother and Swastika who were at home, and waited to murder Lijeesh. When Lijeesh arrived, Mathew threw chilli powder at his face and hacked him, but Lijeesh managed to escape and based on his statements, police were able to nab Mathew and Anushanti the same day.

Local media reported that Mathew, who is convict No. 975 at the Poojapura Central Jail here, continues to have an IT job, quite like the one he did at a company in the Technopark campus. He is presently in charge of computerisation work of the jail canteen, a job that he was entrusted with when he spent four months at the prison as an undertrial prisoner. In place of his starched and smart-looking attire while at the Technopark, complete with the ubiquitous identity tag of techies, Mathew now wears prisoner’s clothes and carries the convict ID number. Otherwise, he is busy at the computer terminal just as he was during his career in an IT company in the role of a project manager.

Reports indicate that he is well-behaved in prison. And the jail authorities are pleased to have someone like Mathew helping them out in computerisation of the jail facilities, because it would have cost them a packet to hire someone of Mathew’s expertise to do the job. Mathew’s paramour, Anushanti has been housed at the women’s jail, but is yet to be given any specific job. Anushanti was handed a double death sentence by the Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions Court judge, V. Shersy. The court observed that by colluding to murder her own little daughter, Anushanti was a “disgrace to motherhood”.

Source: https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/in-prison-kerala-techie-on-death-row-takes-charge-of-computerisation-1.1717971 (Accessed 20 December 2018) 

Attingal twin murder: Death sentence for Mathew, double life term for Anushanthi (Kerala)

IndiaToday.in New Delhi | Thiruvananthapuram April 18, 2016

The twin murder happened in April 2014 in Kerala's Attingal when Anushanthi's husband Lijeesh objected to her extra marital affair with Nino Mathew. 

The Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions court today found former Technopark employees Nino Mathew and Anushanthi guilty of twin murder of Anushanthi's mother-in-law Omana, and her three-year-old daughter Swastika. While Nino Mathew was awarded a death sentence, Anushanthi was sentenced to double life imprisonment. After the prosecution examined 49 witnesses, 85 exhibits and 41 material objects, Judge V Shircy found Anushanthi equally guilty as she was aware of Nino Mathew's plans. The duo has been charged of murder, conspiracy, attempt to destroy evidence and theft.'

Nino Mathew (L) and Anushanthi (R)  

The twin murder happened in April 2014 in Kerala's Attingal when Anushanthi's husband Lijeesh objected to her extra marital affair with Nino Mathew. However, Lijeesh escaped the murder attempt and sustained injuries. Subseqeuntly, Nino Mathew and Anushanthi were arrested. The police recovered murder weapons from his Mathew's house - a matchete and a baseball bat, a towel that was used to wipe the weapons clean and gold ornaments that he stole from the bodies to make it look like a robbery attempt. Nino Mathew had told the court that he did not commit the crime and had requested the court to give him minimum punishment.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/attingal-twin-murder-death-sentence-for-mathew-double-life-term-for-anushanthi-318496-2016-04-18 (Accessed 20 December 2018) 

‘Death Penalty Is Unconstitutional’

The former Supreme Court judge says the death penalty has to go from our statute books.
ANURADHA RAMAN INTERVIEWS K.T. THOMAS

Last year, former Supreme Court judge K.T. Thomas created ripples in the judicial system when he said the death penalty to Rajiv Gandhi’s three killers would amount to a judicial murder and sought a review of the judgement that he had pronounced in 1999. His reasoning was the three prisoners had already spent 22 years in prison in the shadow of death and a death penalty would have amounted to a double sentence—life imprisonment, which is for 14 years, and death. In an interview to Anuradha Raman, Justice Thomas says the death penalty has to go from our statute books.



Justice KT Thomas
Why do you want the death penalty abolished now when, as a judge, you had the choice of not awarding it?
I took an oath to interpret the law and this oath had nothing to do with my predilection. I conferred the death penalty in six cases and in all, I was discharging my duty as a judge. But I do feel that death penalty should be abolished. Punishment must be similar to that of a father who punishes his child--with the objective of reforming him. The death sentence is not a deterrent. By giving death you are giving away the chance to improve the prisoner.

So, do you regret awarding death penalty in the six cases?
I was going by the statute books. The question is, how will you rectify a wrong? There is always a five per cent doubt, no matter what evidence is produced and argued upon. That’s the percentage of human error judges have to deal with. How will you ever rectify human errors in cases of death penalty?

What’s your reaction to those who say it is a deterrent?

I did a study in Travancore district in Kerala. Before the death sentence in the law books there were fewer murders. After it was introduced in the 1950s, murders also increased. The death penalty is not a deterrent. It is an untested, unresolved myth and I believe the death penalty is unconstitutional. The gov­ernment has to decide under CrPC provisions whether to keep it or not.

Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Death-Penalty-Is-Unconstitutional/292799 [last accessed 06.02.2015]

Kerala - NRI Murder:Double Life Sentence for 7

The New Indian Express By Express News Service Published: 05th September 2014 06:11 AM Last Updated: 05th September 2014 06:11 AM KASARGOD: The Kasargod Additional District Sessions Court has sentenced seven convicts to double life imprisonment in the murder case of NRI businessman A B Abdul Salam Haji. The sentences will run concurrently, said judge, E B Rajan. Salam Haji, 59, was murdered during a robbery at his house on August 4, 2013, at Trikaripur, here. The convicted are: C K Muhammed Naushad, 37, and Muhammed Rameez, 28, of Nileshwaram, brothers O M Ashkar, 31, and O M Shihab of Thrissur, C Nimith, 43, of Kannur, and K P Ameer, 25, and M K Jaseer, 22,of Malappuram. All of them were wearing a deadpan look when the judge was reading out the sentences. Accused one and three, Naushad and Rameez, are distant relatives of the slain NRI businessman. ‘They Deserved it’ Safia A B, sister of the slain businessman, said that the convicts should have been given death sentence. Salam Haji’s son, Sufian Abdul Salam, who was at the court, said they deserved it. Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/NRI-MurderDouble-Life-Sentence-for-7/2014/09/05/article2415176.ece [last accessed 06.02.2015]

Sentences show India gets tough on rapists

By Udayan Namboodiri for Khabar South Asia in New Delhi April 15, 2014 

A pair of court rulings in high-profile rape cases sends a strong message that Indians no longer tolerate sexual violence against women.

In a landmark decision, a court in Mumbai on April 4th sentenced three men to death for taking part in separate gang rapes of two women at an abandoned textile mill last year. That same day, a high court in Kerala handed prison sentences to two dozen men acquitted in 2005 of charges in a 1996 multiple rape case. That 16-year old victim was raped at least 41 times over a 40-day period. 

"Times have become hard for rapists in India," Maharashtra State Women's Commission chairperson Sushiben Shah told Khabar South Asia. The Mumbai ruling marked the first case in which repeat offenders received a capital sentence under newly toughened Indian anti-rape laws. The legal changes followed outcry over the December 2012 case of a 23-year-old medical student who died after being gang-raped aboard a New Delhi bus. Four of the woman's six assailants received death sentences, a juvenile received jail time and prior to trial, a sixth alleged assailant was found dead of suspected suicide in his cell.

Now under the Indian Penal Code's revised section 376(e), repeat rapists can face capital punishment.

"There needs to be zero tolerance for such incidents,"Judge Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said in handing down the sentences in Mumbai, according to AFP. "A loud and clear message needs to be sent to society." The judge sentenced Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali (also known as Mohammad Qasim Shaikh) and Mohammed Salim Ansari to death for their roles in an August 22nd, 2013 gang-rape of a female photojournalist at the abandoned Shakti Mills, and a previous July 31st, 2013 gang-rape of a telephone operator at the same site. They are appealing their sentences.

Four men and a minor all took part in the photojournalist's attack. The fourth, Rehman, received a life sentence. The juvenile is being tried by a special court. Mohammed Ashwaq Sheikh, another man who took part only in the late July gang-rape, also received a life sentence, AFP reported. "This has certainly sent a positive signal even though it is an open question whether capital punishment is desirable in a civilised country," National Commission for Women chairperson Mamta Sharma told Khabar. 

Slow justice for one

Though the victims of the Mumbai gang rapes got swift justice, such was not the case for the then-teen victim of the 1996 case which originated in Suryanelli in Kerala's Idukki District. On April 4th, a three-judge state High Court bench overturned the lower court's 9-year-old acquittal by sentencing main perpetrator Dharmarajan, to life in prison. The panel also sentenced two co-defendants to 10-year terms. The remaining 21 received terms of at least four years each.

"The miscarriage of justice in the Suryanelli case was a blot on the nation's image," Brinda Karat, a former Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, told Khabar. "Now finally the hapless victims of rape can hope for justice."

Source: http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2014/04/15/feature-01 [accessed 24 April 2014]

Man sentenced to death for rape and murder

The Mavelikara Additional District and Sessions Court-II on Thursday sentenced to death Viswarajan, 22, of Oachira who was found guilty of the rape and murder of a 34-year-old widow and the mother of a teenaged girl. Pronouncing the sentence, the Judge A.Badarudheen said the court was awarding death penalty as it was the ‘rarest of rare cases.' The Court also asked the accused, Viswarajan, alias ‘Karumadi' of Santhosh Bhavan in Vayanakam in Oachira to pay a penalty of Rs.1 lakh to the victim's daughter. If the convicted person failed to pay the penalty, he would have to undergo additional Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) of six months. Special Public Prosecutor S. Remanan Pillai said Viswarajan had also been sentenced to six months Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) under Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (wrongful confinement) and five years RI under Section 376 read with 511 (attempt to rape). The sentences will, however, run concurrently. Habitual offender The judge observed that the accused was a habitual offender and was a threat to the community. Mr. Pillai said the accused had two charges of rape and assault against him in the Ochira police station pending trial and another case of abducting a minor girl and sexually exploiting her. The death sentence was based on ‘circumstantial evidence,' he said. A large crowd of people were present when the verdict was pronounced at 11 a.m. The accused was brought out of the court nearly three hours later, at 2 p.m., and taken in a police vehicle to Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail at Poojapura. A heavy deployment of police under Kayamkulam Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Devamanohar, who also supervised the investigation, was present at the court. The incident occurred at 7 p.m. on October 24, 2011 when the victim was returning home. The accused who was hiding in the dark grabbed the victim and beat her unconscious before sexually assaulting her. He later pushed her into a paddy field. The police and local people rushed her to a hospital. However, she died while being shifted to the Alappuzha Medical College Hospital. The investigation was led by Kayamkulam Circle Inspector A.N.Shanihan, who submitted the report to the court.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article3477458.ece

Close call between life and death

Apr 14, 2012 - Rohit Raj DC

Considering the issue of death penalty in rarest of rare cases, a division bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday initiated a debate on giving harsher life term to the convicts while sparing the rope.

The Kerala High Court on Friday took a call on the death vs life debate for extreme crimes and a division bench that considered the question stood more in favour of life but did not seek an abolition of death penalty altogether.

While considering the references of death penalty given by various trial courts to 10 convicts, a division bench comprising Justices R. Basant and K. Vinod Chandran opined that a harsher life term (without parole, commutation or remission) should be more of a norm.

Among the death references considered by the court was that of one-handed Govindachamy, the convict in Soumya murder case.


Justice R. Basant, who retired on Friday, opined that death sentence and harsh life imprisonment can be considered by both the high court and the sessions courts. He expressed that both courts have powers to impose a harsher punishment.

According to Justice Basant, a larger bench of five judges should consider the matter and formulate guidelines on this aspect. However, Justice Vinod Chandran had a different opinion and observed that delaying a decision would only prolong the agony and trauma of the convicts.

He said that by a specific order, the apex court had not conferred any such power on trial courts.
Relying on the Supreme Court verdict on the famous Swami Sradhananda case, Justice Vinod Chandran opined: “I agree with Justice Basant on the issue of High Court having power to extend life sentences beyond 14 years. But I have a difference of opinion on sessions court having powers to decide the question.”

On formulating the guidelines, Justice Basant observed that a five-judge bench should arrive at a consensus on awarding death sentences in each case. “Unless a five-judge bench unanimously comes to the conclusion that a death sentence is the only option considering the gravity of the crime, the convict should be given a life term,” he said.

Justice Basant also opined that courts should consider Kerala’s social situation while awarding death sentences. “Kerala should set a model for other states in avoiding death sentences to convicts by extending the life term awarded to the victims,” he observed.

The matter will now go to the Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur who will constitute a single bench to take a final call in the issue.

Who holds the supreme power?

While the division bench unanimously agreed for giving extended life terms instead of gallows for those on death row, the two judges differed on who should have the power to decide the question.

While Justice R. Basant suggested that both the high court and the sessions court can wield the power to decide the issue, Justice K. Vinod Chandran was of the view that the power should be exercised by the high court only.

Interestingly, members of the bar too stood divided on the issue. “I cannot accept the view (expressed by Justice K. Vinod Chandran) that sessions court should not consider the question of extending the life term. Sessions courts pass verdicts after conducting the trial so they have every right to consider the issue,” said Advocate Sivan Madathil

Even if the session’s court commits a mistake it can be challenged at the high court and Supreme Court, he said.

However, director general of Prosecution Mr Asaf Ali argued that only Supreme Court can arrive at a decision on whether to extend life terms.

Nizhalkuthu: tale of unjustness

The film, Nizhalkuthu (Shadow Kill), coproduced by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, is about the inherent unjustness of certain punishments.

The film is set in the 1940s in a village of Travancore, British India. Kaliyappan, the last hangman of Travancore dynasty, spends all the time drinking and seeking atonement.

The reason for this self-destruction has been the remorse born out of the feeling that the last man he hanged was an innocent. The late Oduvil Unnikrishnan portrayed Kaliyappan.

10 Who await

Govindachamy - Soumya rape and murder
Kanakaraj - Puthoor Sheela murder case
Antony alias Anthappan - Aluva murder killing 6 persons.
Unni - Kanichikulangara case
Reji Kumar - murdering wife and four children in Pattambi
Lawrence - Idukki murder
Ramachandran - Vandoor case for killing two women
Pradeep Borah - murdering a couple from Orrisa.
Jojo alias Jomon - murder of mother and grandfather in Idukki
Shaju alias Unni - Kollam murder case
Ripper Chandran was the last person to be hanged in the state, in 1991.

source: http://www.asianage.com/india/close-call-between-life-and-death-714
[accessed on 15th April 2012]

Petition in high court against death penalty

TNN Nov 30, 2011, 11.06PM IST
KOCHI: A lawyer based at Kochi approached the Kerala high court on Wednesday with a petition challenging death penalty.

The petition, filed by advocate Manju Antoney, seeks amendment of section 53 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with punishment for offenders, including death penalty. Death penalty is against the noble principles laid out in the Constitution and most of the countries have abolished this law, the petitioner says.

As of February 2011, 95 countries have abolished death penalty, while eight countries are allowing death sentence in special circumstances. However, death penalty has not been implemented in the last 10 years in 49 countries, the petition says.

The petitioner also highlighted a non-binding resolution by the United Nations in 2007 that called for a moratorium on execution with a view to abolishing death penalty. Many courts in India are awarding death sentences despite these circumstances, and therefore, an amendment is needed, he says.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P R Ramamchandra Menon heard the petitioner but said the petition was incomplete to be accepted as a public interest litigation in the present form.

Observing that the amendment should be made at higher platforms, the court asked the petitioner to monitor the proceedings in Parliament related to death penalty as well as study other public interest litigations on the same matter and file an amended petition after four weeks.

source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-30/kochi/30459237_1_death-penalty-petition-division-bench

accessed on 2nd December 2011

Capital punishment is primitive: Zacharia

The Hindu:
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, November 29, 2011
Special correspondent:

Writer Paul Zacharia has said that it is high time India abolished capital punishment as it is founded on the primitive and fallacious belief that a crime can be undone by killing a person.

Inaugurating a convention seeking a moratorium on capital punishment, organised by the Committee Against Capital Punishment, here on Monday, Mr. Zacharia said the media's celebration of the capital punishment awarded to Govindachamy in the Soumya murder case was born out of the innate human craving for war and gore and the social consensus of the current times on the need to meet crime with crime. The recent murder of a youth by a moral vigilante group was the result of this mindset. Television channels were particularly adept at feeding this war hysteria. This was in evidence immediately after the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks when some media organisations even called for an immediate war with Pakistan.

What actually played out in Govindachamy's case was hatred for a foreigner, the craving for bloodshed and upper caste sense of honour. The reaction would not have been so celebratory had the accused belonged to any of the major communities in Kerala, he said. The writer pointed out that in India capital punishment was also a political weapon and said that no judge would have been able to award anything less than capital punishment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The clamour for hanging the accused in the Parliament attack case was another case in point, he added.

Chairing the convention, journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar said that Kerala had changed so much over the last 25 years that a person suspected of pick-pocketing could be beaten to death and nobody found anything wrong in capital punishment which was nothing but judicial murder. The people of Kerala must ask themselves how things came to such a pass. Equally important was to raise the question what role the media played in preparing the Malayali mind to accept murders in society and those ordered by the judiciary without any sense of guilt. The media should introspect on this and society at last should start worrying about this if the State were to become a better place to live, Mr. Bhaskar said.

On the occasion, academic N.A. Kareem said capital punishment derived its legitimacy from the legal guarantees to protect life and also to take life. As important as capital punishment was extra judicial killings as was evident in the killing of Maoist leaders Azad and Kishenji, both of whom were enticed into the police dragnet under the guise of negotiations. Such killings showed that the State could not be trusted with the power to take a person in the name of the law. The quality of the judiciary also raised serious questions about the wisdom of persisting with capital punishment, Dr. Kareem said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2670071.ece
accessed on 1st December 2011

Lifting of death penalty sought

KOCHI, November 15, 2011
By Special Correspondent:

The Committee Against Death Penalty has urged the Union and State governments to order a moratorium on death penalty. To press its demand for a moratorium, the committee will hold a ‘people's convention' in Thiruvananthapuram on November 28.

Prominent people from various fields will speak at the convention, which would be opened by writer Paul Zachariah, K. Rajmohan, one of the organisers of the campaign, said. He pointed out that a large number of countries had done away with death penalty. He pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution seeking to revoke the death penalty of those sentenced in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.

Resolution

There was a move in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly to pass a resolution supporting the revocation of the death penalty given to Afzal Guru, who was sentenced in the Parliament House attack case. Mr. Rajmohan also recalled that nearly 70 years back, the then Travancore kingdom had abolished the death penalty.

Demand

Several human rights activists, criminologists and jurists the world over have been pressing for the abolition of death penalty. It was high time, he said, India dropped death penalty from its penal code. As a first step, the government should order a moratorium on death penalty and the Thiruvananthapuram convention would launch a strong campaign for this, Mr. Rajmohan said.

Committee urges governments to declare moratorium
To hold a people's convention in State capital

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2628697.ece
accessed on 15th Nov 2011