COIMBATORE: Two judges of the Madras high court on Saturday visited a crime scene at a village near Thudiyalur in Coimbatore district, and held inquiry over the rape and murder of a minor girl in March 2019. In the rare move, senior judges Justice P N Prakash and Justice T S Sivagnanam spent at least two hours at the village and held inquiry with the victim’s family members and villagers.
The case relates to the rape and murder of a seven-year-old child in which the accused was sentenced to death by a Pocso court. Since it was a death sentence, the case was referred to the HC and was pending before the judges. While forensic report based on DNA test said that traces of two DNAs were found in the semen collected from the girl’s body and one of it matched with that of Santhoshkumar, who was sentenced to death, the source of the other DNA trace was being probed. The convict, meanwhile, told the HC that he was innocent, and his defence team claimed there were contradictions in the DNA report. Police, who did not allow mediapersons anywhere near the village, said those taking photos or videographs of the judges or the inquiry will face criminal cases. Later, the judges met subordinate judicial officers at the combined court complex.
It was on March 31, 2019, that the Class I student, playing in front of her home went missing. The next day her body was found dumped near her house. Around 15 days later, K Santhoshkumar (34) of Uliyampalayam in Coimbatore was arrested.
The postmortem report revealed that the girl had been raped before she was murdered, and traces of semen were noticed in the private part of the victim. Samples were duly was sent to forensic science laboratory in Chennai for DNA match.
While Santhoshkumal undergoing trial for offences under POCSO Act, forensic experts submitted DNA reports and claimed that traces of two DNAs were found in the semen collected from the girl’s body and that one matched with Santhoshkumar.
The special court continued the trial and sentenced Santhoshkumar to death on December 27, 2019. It also directed the Thudiyalur all-women police station to conduct a separate investigation to trace the another person. Police collected blood samples from 11 friends of the accused and relatives of the minor girl and sent them to the forensic science laboratory in Chennai. Results are still awaited.
Besides the automatic referred trial, Santhoshkumar also approached the Madras high court in January 2020 and sought legal aid. The court also appointed a lawyer from the panel of legal aid counsel. During appeal arguments, the defence counsel claimed that there were a lot of contradictions in the DNA analysis report and that the condemned convict claimed that he was not involved in the crime.