Madras HC Upholds Death Penalty Of POCSO Convict, Says He Had Turned Into A Beast
The Madras High Court upheld the death penalty of a POCSO case convict and said that when the attitude of a man turns into the one of a beast, having no mercy over other creatures, he should be punished and sent to the eternal world.
Samivel alias Raja, was accused of sexually abusing and murdering a 7-year-old girl on June 30, 2020.
The accused was booked for offences under Sections 364, 376, 302, 201 IPC, POCSO Act as well as SC/ ST Act.
The Pudukottai district mahila court had on December 29, 2020, sentenced the 26-year-old to the death penalty.
On Wednesday, the Madurai division bench of the Madras High Court confirmed the verdict.
What the court said
While delivering the order, Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice G Jayachandran noted that the convict would be a threat to society if he is alive.
"If a person like the accused herein is allowed to survive in this world, he will definitely pollute the mind of other co-prisoners, who will be at the verge of release from jail in which he is confined. When the attitude of a man turns into the one of a beast, having no mercy over other creatures, he should be punished and sent to the eternal world," the court noted.
"The accused, taking advantage of the solitary of the deceased child and her mother, being a retarded woman, acquainted with the deceased only for the purpose of triggering his subjective feeling and therafter, fearing disclosure of the offence by the deceased, he decided to put a stop to her inhale in a brutal manner, which a normal human being dare not to do so," the judges said further.
"We were a little hesitant initially to take away a life of a person by way of a judicial order and thought of converting the punishment into one of life imprisonment. But, after due deliberation and contemplation, we were reminded of the preaching of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battlefield that everyone is going to disappear from the world, even if he (Arjuna) does not shoot the enemies with arrows, even though they are relatives / known persons," the court said.
The judges also quotes poet Tiruvalluvar, Bible, Holy Quran and even a 1964 Sivaji Ganesan starrer film song by Seergazhi S Govindarajan to philosophically elucidate on the propriety of imposing death sentence in this case.
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