BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday confirmed the capital punishment awarded by Chikmagalur sessions court to an accused committed for rape and murder of a second divisional clerk in 2007.
A division bench headed by Justice K Shreedhar Rao confirmed the death sentence to Mohamed bin Beerenkutti, a resident of Biderenahalli Hobli, Mudigere Taluk.
The session court on March 31, 2009 awarded death the sentence to Mohamed in connection with the murder of Vijayanthi, second divisional clerk, working in Chikmagalur on June 18, 2007.
The bench observed that in the pretext of offering a drop to the victim, Mohamed, who was working as a driver for a private travels had rapped and killed her near the Anjaneya Swamy temple and thrown her dead body at the Charmadi Ghat.
While confirming the death sentence, Justice Shreedhar Rao said, “The crime scenario in the country is horrible. It has to be dealt with stern hands. If leniency is shown in these kind of cases, the accused will become a man-eater in the society.” Though, the accused was acquitted of rape charges, the court, however, convicted him for committing murder and robbery.
HC resumes mining hearing
The High Court has resumed the hearing on a petition, challenging the constitutional validity of Karnataka Minerals (Regulations of Transport) Rules, 2008.
While hearing a batch of petitions, the division bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar suggested few modifications regarding the validity for mineral dispatch permits to vehicles.
While, the government had given consent to seven days validity of mineral dispatch permits, to per trip of vehicles, the petitioner sought at least 12 days validity.
Hence, the court has suggested that it can grant nine days validity per trip and adjourned the hearing to Tuesday.