The Soumya murder case verdict drew mixed reactions from various colleges across the city. When City Express spoke to a few students across the city, most of them favoured death penalty for culprit Govindachamy.
The students in general were of the opinion that the verdict should have come out earlier and added that the flaws in the legal system should be rectified. “All are equal before the law but it is not the case always,” they said
St Teresa’s College students welcomed the verdict in unison and said that the culprit deserves the punishment. “There is no lesser punishment for a person who has done such a heinous crime,” said Christy, a first-year student. They also said that implementing laws and punishing the culprit alone would not prevent violence against women - violence stops when defence starts - a woman should stand up for her rights and society should back them to fight for their rights. “As a girl I feel more safe. I hope the verdict will help prevent such kinds of atrocities in society to some extent,” said Amrutha, a sociology student.
But some students differed in their opinion regarding capital punishment. The students of Government Law College were against capital punishment. Shahina of the college expressed her discontent with the verdict. She said, “capital punishment is not the right way to curb crime in society. The judiciary has no right to take one’s life. The state is practising capital punishment just to silence society. There is no proof to justify the effectiveness of capital punishment, it has made no difference in the crime rate in society,” she said.
Girish, a law graduate, said, “Such crimes occur due to sexual urges of men and to prevent such sexual violence against women, prostitution should be made legal in the country”. Arun, another student, said, “Castration is the ideal way to deal with sexual crimes.”
However, Aravind said that the verdict would turn void once it reaches the Supreme Court, as the law does not award capital punishment to the physically-challenged.
The reactions were mixed at Maharaja’s College. Laws should be made stringent so that none can twist them according to their whims and fancy by influencing bigwigs through power or money. “Our judiciary is also corrupt. There are instances where the loopholes in the system have saved many a culprit,” said a few students.
Aswathi said that a separate court should be set aside to address women’s issues. Kavya said if the verdict of Delhi rape case could be announced fast, why can’t it be announced similarly in other rape cases.
Priya expressed the hope that the trials of pending rape cases across the country will not drag in future.