A day after the apex courst upheld life imprisonment for in the Soumya rape and murder case, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju said that the apex court had “grievously erred by law” in its decision.
In a post on Facebook, he wrote: “The Supreme Court has grievously erred by law by not holding Govindachamy guilty of murder.”
On Thursday, the SC had quashed the accused Govindachamy’s death penalty, but upheld life imprisonment for raping 23-year-old Soumya on 1 February 2011 because it found that there was no intention on the part of the accused to kill the victim.
The death penalty had been imposed by a fast track court in Thrissur, which was later upheld by the Kerala High Court.
What the court has overlooked is that Section 300 IPC, which defines murder, has 4 parts and only the first part requires intention to kill. If any of the other three parts are established, it will be murder even if there was no intention to kill.Markandey Katju, Former Supreme Court Judge in a Facebook post
Katju said it was “regrettable” that the court has not read Section 300 carefully.
(With inputs from PTI)
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