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Noose for Kerala rapist
A fast-track court in Thrissur, Kerala, awarded death sentence on Friday to a disabled beggar-turned-criminal who pushed a woman passenger out of a moving train before raping her on February 1.
A fast-track court in Thrissur, Kerala, awarded death sentence on Friday to a disabled beggar-turned-criminal who pushed a woman passenger out of a moving train before raping her on February 1.
Pronouncing the verdict, special court judge K Ravindra Babu said it was a rarest of rare case and the accused was a threat to civil society as he was a habitual offender.
The judgment came as a big relief for Soumya's mother K Sumathy. "No other girl should undergo my daughter's plight. I am happy he got the maximum punishment," she said.
Soumya, 23, a sales girl at a Kochi mall, died in a local hospital a week after suffering serious injuries.
On the fateful day Soumya was on her way home to Shornur in Palakkad district to finalise her marriage plans. She was alone in the ladies' compartment of the Ernakulam-Shornur passenger train when Govindachamy, 30, tried to molest her. When she resisted, he pushed her out of the train and dragged her to a secluded spot before raping her brutally. An unconscious Soumya was spotted on railway tracks the next day.
On Friday, angry onlookers threw stones and slippers at the police van when Govindachamy was taken to the Kannur central jail.
He was attacked twice by angry mobs during the six-month trial.
The court also asked police to probe allegations of a mafia trying to save Govindachamy by pooling money and hiring top criminal lawyers to defend him.
Chief minister Oommen Chandy said his government would reward the police team that cracked the case.
