Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju on Friday said that there was a lapse of judgement on the part the country's top court in the rape and murder case of a Kochi woman. In a Facebook post, Katju argued that the Supreme Court erroneously dropped the murder charges against Govindachamy and found him guilty of raping the 24-year-old in 2011. The court on Thursday commuted his death sentence and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
According to the former judge, the first mistake on the part of the apex court was that it had taken into consideration “hearsay evidence, which is inadmissible” in the court of law.
Besides, the former chairperson of Press Council of India argued that the Supreme Court had “ignored vital parts of Section 300” of the Indian Penal Code, which states that it is a case of murder even if there was no intention to kill, if the accused inflicts a wound sufficient to cause the death of a person in the ordinary course of nature.
He also cited an instance to explain that even if Govindachamy did not have any intention to kill, repeated banging of the woman's head against the wall of the train compartment was sufficient to cause death. Katju added that the Kerala government should file a review petition and offered his legal advice, reported Manorama.
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