|
INDIA: MADRAS HC UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE IN KIDNAP AND MURDER CASE
March 24, 2014: Madras High Court upheld the death sentence awarded by a Mahila Court in Coimbatore in 2012 to a 27-year-old man, who was convicted in the kidnap and murder of a 10-year-old girl and her brother after raping her.
A division bench comprising justices S Rajeswaran and P N Prakash confirmed the death sentence awarded to Manoharan by Mahila Court, Coimbatore, on November 1, 2012.
Manoharan, the lone surviving accused in the sensational case, was sentenced to death by the Mahila Court Judge M P Subramanian for murdering the girl and her seven-year-old brother after raping her, holding that it would not be fair to show any mercy going by the gravity of the offence.
According to prosecution, Manoharan along with prime accused Mohanakrishnan, former van driver of the children, had abducted the siblings on October 29, 2010 with the aim of demanding ransom from their father, a textile merchant.
However, they raped the girl and murdered her and also her brother who was a witness to the crime.
Mohanakrishnan was shot dead by police in an alleged encounter when he tried to escape after his arrest. (Sources: Press Trust of India, 24/03/2014)
|
