Madurai: The Madras High Court upheld the conviction and a life sentence was handed down by a Sessions Court of a 28-year-old man who set a student on fire in 2018 for merely rejecting his proposal.
The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Balamurugan who was challenging September 2019 Madurai Sessions court verdict that convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment for killing a 14-year-old girl, a standard IX student, by setting her ablaze in front of her school after she denied his proposal.
The court noted that such incidents are on the rise because men see women as 'chattel' and want to own or control them without understanding that they are human beings, and they are entitled to "decide on their wishes."
According to the court, this was another case where a man did not have the maturity to accept the rejection of his love proposal and subsequently killed the deceased by pouring petrol on her and setting her ablaze.
The Case
The accused is Balamurugan who is an air conditioner mechanic and ‘fell in love’ with the 14-year-old, a high school student, who rejected his proposal.
Despite this, he continued harassing her and in 2017, a complaint was filed against him. A court noted that the police case resulted in enmity toward the deceased and an increase in the appellant's aggressive behaviour.
On February 16, 2018, when the victim was returning from school with her friends the accused approached her on a motorcycle and restrained her. According to police, he then poured petrol on her and lit her on fire with a cigarette lighter, as reported by news portal Sabrang India.
In 2019, Balamurugan was convicted under Section 302 and 342 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Court’s verdict
According to the court, love and hate are interconnected in complex ways, and psychologists have conducted a serious study that shows that a person's love generates a "corresponding level of hate" when negative events occur with his or her romantic partner when certain conditions are met.
The court stated that mutual respect for a woman should start at home and must be instilled by the parents and society.
Justice Nisha Banu and Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madurai bench of Madras High Court stated that youngsters today lack the emotional quotient (EQ) and even the slightest disturbance or rejection makes them take drastic measures without understanding the consequences.
Additionally, the court said that the education system should also start concentrating more on EQ rather than the IQ of a person, because no matter how smart or intelligent a child may be, if he does not have emotions, he will not be prepared to face emotional obstacles.
