Today, On 27th February: the Kerala High Court has handed down life sentences to the accused individuals involved in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case of 2012. The High Court upheld the convictions of the accused, who were previously found guilty by the trial court. Notably, nine of the convicts will not be eligible for any remission until they have completed 20 years of their sentence.
Kerala: On 27th February: The Kerala High Court has delivered life sentences to all individuals convicted in the high-profile T P Chandrasekharan murder case of 2012.
The Division Bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Kauser Edappagath, ordered that nine of the convicts must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison without any possibility of remission.
The High Court’s decision, rendered on February 19, affirmed the trial court’s judgment and upheld the convictions of Anoop, Manoj alias Kirmani Manoj, N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, T K Rajeesh, K K Muhammed Shafi, S Sijith, K Shinoj, K C Ramachandran, Manojan, and Kunhanandan for their roles in the murder. Notably, Kunhanandan passed away during the appeal process.
The Kerala High Court convened on Monday to consider the prosecution’s request for heightened penalties for the individuals convicted in the 2012 TP Chandrasekharan murder case.
Furthermore, the High Court overturned the acquittal of two additional accused, finding them guilty of criminal conspiracy in connection with the killing of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader Chandrasekharan in Onchiyam on May 4, 2012.
READ ALSO: TP Chandrasekharan Murder Case| Kerala High Court Consider Plea to Enhance Sentences
The court addressed various appeals filed by the convicted individuals challenging their verdicts and sentences, alongside the state’s plea for enhanced sentencing. Additionally, K K Rema, Chandrasekharan’s widow, filed an appeal seeking the conviction of an acquitted suspect.
“While the crime would certainly rank as a heinous one committed against the victim TP Chandrasekharan, it is also one that threatens to undermine the democratic principles by which the people of the country as a whole has chosen to be governed by. Crimes which have the effect of inducing fear in the people to the point where they are prevented from freely exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression ought to be dealt with firmly for they cannot be tolerated in the society that is governed by the rule of law. While there is under this an element of public interest that is to be safeguarded through the prescription of punishment for the crime, any crime that is committed with the view to silence dissent which is an integral facet of the right to privacy under Article 21 of our constitution has to be seen as a crime against the people at large in a society that has chosen to be governed by democratic principles., stated the Bench
Background
Chandrasekharan, aged 52, was brutally murdered by a gang while returning home on his motorcycle, sparking national attention and legal proceedings that have culminated in the recent High Court verdict.
Earlier, on February 19, the Kerala High court upheld the convictions in the murder case of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan, which occurred in Onchiyam, Kozhikode district, on May 4, 2012. Following a directive to correctional authorities to bring the convicts before the court, they appeared on Monday in response to the state government’s petition seeking enhanced sentencing.
Previously, the trial court in Kozhikode had acquitted 24 individuals, including CPI(M) District Secretary P Mohanan, in the case. In 2014, the Kozhikode Additional Sessions Court sentenced 11 defendants to life imprisonment and imposed a three-year jail term on Lambu Pradeep. Among the convicted were CPI(M) local leaders K C Ramachandran and the late Kunhanandan.
“we are of the view that a sentence of life imprisonment simpliciter would not be proportionate to the gravity of the offence committed and would not meet the need to respond strictly and sternly to crimes virtually causing an attack on democracy itself…….by showing undue leniency to accused will adversely affect public confidence and efficacy of our legal system. Under these circumstances, while we desist from awarding death sentence, we find it just and proper that A1-A8, A11 are sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life with the rider that their right to claim remission on their sentence of life imprisonment shall stand restricted for a period of twenty years. So then they shall be entitled to release on remission only after they complete twenty years of actual sentence.”
The Court stated that it would not term the murder as rarest of rare cases, warranting capital punishment. “In our jurisprudence, the death sentence is only reserved for those cases that qualify as the rarest of the rare. when the facts and circumstances proved against the accused before us clearly point out their abhorrent and despicable conduct, we would not go far as to categorize it as the rarest of the rare so as to impose the death sentence on them.”
Last week, the Court had dismissed the appeals of the convicts against the order of conviction passed by the trial court. The Court also reversed the acquittal of two other accused.
The Court posted the matter yesterday for hearing on the sentence.
[Case title: K C Ramachandran v State of Kerala & Connected Matters]