Madras HC confirms death sentence awarded to youth for rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl

A Division Bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and G Jayachandran was satisfied that there was no infirmity in the order of conviction passed by the Pudukkottai Mahila Court on M Samivel alias Raja.
(Representational Image)
(Representational Image)

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday confirmed the death sentence imposed on a youth for sexually assaulting and murdering a seven-year-old girl at Pudukkottai in 2020.

A Division Bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and G Jayachandran was satisfied that there was no infirmity in the order of conviction passed by the Pudukkottai Mahila Court on the youth, M Samivel alias Raja.

The court noted that Raja was seen together with the child around the time of the incident on June 30, 2020 and his clothes, which were stained with the girl’s blood, were also recovered by the police. His suspicious conduct after the incident and his failure to prove his innocence also confirmed that he committed the offence, the judges added.

While discussing the imposition of the death sentence, the judges first referred to the postmortem report of the child. The external injuries on the child included three reddish bone-deep wounds on the head, similar wounds on several parts of the face, neck, chest, multiple abrasions on the abdomen, thighs, and the private parts, among others, the report revealed. Perusing the report, the judges sympathised with the pain and suffering undergone by the child. “The accused, after fulfilling his carnal thirst, had brutally attacked the deceased child with a stick and dashed her head on a tree, thereby piercing her face and neck,” they observed.

Saying that one cannot be judged by his outer appearance as Adolf Hitler, despite ordering the execution of millions of people, hated cruelty to animals and was a vegetarian, the judges opined, “If a person like the accused herein is allowed to survive in this world, he will definitely pollute the mind of other co-prisoners. When the attitude of a man turns into the one of a beast having no mercy over other creatures, he should be punished and sent to the eternal world.”

Also taking into consideration the brutality of the attack, the barbaric manner in which the deceased child was murdered and the mental agony undergone by the parents, the judges held, “Except death sentence, no other sentence will be adequate.”

The court also admitted in the order that they were a little hesitant to take away the life of a person, by way of a judicial order, and thought of commuting it to a life sentence. But, they referred to the preaching of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the epic Mahabharata and said, “When a particular duty is given to a person, he or she has to discharge the same without fear or favour.” Also drawing strength from the verses in the Thirukkural, the Holy Quran and the Bible, which talk about the gravity of committing murder and the duty to punish murderers, the judges upheld the Mahila Court’s order and confirmed the death sentence imposed on Raja.

The Mahila Court in Pudukkottai, on December 29, 2020, sentenced Raja to hang till death for the brutal sexual assault and murder of the seven-year-old child in Pudukkottai on June 30 the same year. According to the prosecution, Raja had kidnapped the child to a secluded place, committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault on her. To avoid getting caught, he killed the girl, threw her body into a dried pond and covered it with bushes. After the child had been reported missing by her parents on July 7, the police found her body and arrested Raja.

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