BENGALURU: THE High Court on Tuesday confirmed the life sentence of Shivakumar, who was convicted for raping and killing BPO employee Prathibha Srikantamurthy in 2005.
The incident had sent shock waves across the country with regards to safety of women. Shivakumar was one of the drivers of a fleet of cars assigned by a call centre to pick up employees.
A division bench of Justices H Billappa and K N Phaneendra, pronouncing the judgment on Tuesday afternoon, noted, “The trial court rightly appreciated the evidence on record and found Shivakumar guilty of offences of abduction, rape and murder and it doesn’t call for interference.”
Shivakumar had challenged the life term awarded to him by the fast track court, claiming that there was no evidence against him. The state then appealed seeking maximum penalty by citing various judgments of the Supreme Court where death penalty has been imposed in such cases.
However, the division bench rejected both the appeals, while confirming the life sentence imposed by the lower court in 2011.
While dismissing the appeal filed by the state, the bench said, “We agree that it is a heinous crime. But, considering the age of the convict and that he is a married person and with no history criminal antecedents, the judgment on hand does not call for interference.”
Case that rocked the BPO Industry
Prathibha, who was working at a call centre in Electronics City, was raped and murdered on December 13, 2005.
Shivakumar was convicted by the 11th Fast Track Court in the city on October 6, 2010 and was sentenced to life. The court said he should remain in jail till his last breath.
After the incident, BPOs were forced to change their policies towards safety of working women.