The Madras High Court on Monday confirmed the death sentence awarded to Manoharan, the only surviving accused in the gang-rape and murder of two school children, by the sessions judge of the Mahila Court in Coimbatore.
Mohanakrishnan, the other accused in the crime, was killed in an encounter with the police two weeks after the incident, which happened on October 29, 2010.
Justices S Rajeswaran and P N Prakash passed the 98-page order stating that the accused will be a menace to the society as could be inferred in the manner in which he raped a 10-year-old girl and pushed a 7-year-old boy into a canal.
The judges, while quoting a Supreme Court verdict in a similar case, said they have to follow the path of the apex court. “The two children were kidnapped, one of them gang-raped and both of them were given poison and pushed into a canal alive where they suffered a watery grave. We are inclined to follow the footsteps of the Supreme Court and we hereby confirm the award of death sentence to Manoharan, the accused,” the judges observed while quoting from the Vana Parva in Mahabharata on whether it is dharmic to award the death penalty.
Setting aside charges pertaining to kidnapping and holding the children for ransom, the judges said the motive for murdering the children was to cover up evidence of kidnapping by Mohanakrishnan and rape by both of them.