KOCHI: Kerala High Court on Friday upheld the life imprisonment awarded to controversial businessman Mohammed Nisham accused of killing a security guard in a fit of rage by ramming his luxury Hummer in Thrissur in January 2015.
“The sentence imposed by the trial court, as confirmed by us, is imprisonment for life, which is for the rest of the life of the convict. The state requires no nudge or prodding from the courts, on the judicial side and it is for the state to take a decision on remission considering the gravity of the offence, the shock it generated in society as also the conduct of the convict in prison and any other relevant factors. If the state stays its hands and restricts itself and the power of remission is not invoked, the convict spends his life in prison,” said the Division Bench comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice C Jayachandran.
The court observed that there was no reason to interfere with the sentence imposed by the Thrissur Additional Sessions court and agreed with the trial court that it is not one of the rarest of rare cases.
The court also dismissed the appeal filed by Nisham seeking to release the hummer car and the appeal of the state government seeking capital punishment citing that the accused had unleashed a merciless attack on a defenceless person, especially the act of using a car to mow him down and thus murder him.