The Supreme Court on Thursday reconfirmed the death penalty of a convict in the 2010 Coimbatore rape and murder case, PTI reported.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice RF Nariman dismissed the review plea of Manoharan in a 2:1 decision. Justice Sanjiv Khanna dissented, advocating jail term for life without the benefit of remission. Justice Surya Kant said the circumstances of the case were sufficient to shake the conscience of society and deserved the maximum punishment, reported News18. “In view of the majority judgement, the review petition stands dismissed in its entirety,” the bench added.
On August 1, the top court had confirmed Manoharan’s death penalty. However, last month it stayed his execution and agreed to hear the arguments of the defence counsel.
Manoharan and another accused raped a 10-year-old girl on October 29, 2010 after abducting her along with her seven-year-old brother from outside a temple while they were going to school. They poisoned the two children. But when the siblings did not die, the two tied their hands and threw them in the Parambikulam-Axhiyar Project canal. Manoharan’s associate Mohanakrishnan was later shot dead in an encounter.
While upholding the verdicts of a trial court and the Madras High Court, the Supreme Court had on August 1 called offence “shocking” and “cold blooded”. The bench said the crime fell under the “rarest of rare” category.
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