The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on Tuesday awarded death sentence to Muhammed Ameerul Islam, a migrant worker from Assam, for raping and murdering a Dalit law student near Perumbavoor, near Kochi, last year.
The court, while sentencing Ameerul to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 under Section 376A of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) (rape), also awarded him a 10-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 under Section 376 (causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) of the IPC. The accused has been awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment and one-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹15,000 and ₹1,000 respectively under Sections 449 ( (house trespass) and 342( wrongful confinement) of the IPC.
The death sentence has been awarded for offence under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. The sentences of imprisonments would run concurrently and the death sentence would be subject to confirmation by the Kerala High Court. The court ordered that he be taken to the Central Prison, Viyyur, Thrissur, to serve the sentence.
Principal Sessions Judge N. Anilkumar observed that it was a fit case for awarding death sentence to the convict.
The case relates to brutal rape and murder of the Dalit woman at her house in Vattolipadi, near Perumbavoor, on April 28, 2016.
The court held that the prosecution proved beyond doubt in the light of the proved circumstances that the accused on April 28, 2016 at 5 p.m, knowing that she would be alone at her home, with an intention to sexually abuse her, forcibly entered the house. He tried to grab her, but she strongly objected to the move and tried to escape from his clutches. Frustrated by the failure to commit rape, the accused intentionally murdered her in revenge. There was absolutely clear motive on the part of the accused.
The court observed that the contentions of the accused that the case was purely based on circumstantial evidence alone was not true. This was a case where reliable evidence was adduced by the prosecution based on DNA technology, which was a 100 per cent accurate method to identify the accused. DNA technology was more reliable than direct oral evidence of the witnesses.
