Soumya, an employee of a shopping mall in Kochi, was raped and murdered on 1 February 2011.
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The attacker, Govindachamy, will not hang, the Supreme Court ruled today, reducing his sentence to seven years in jail.
Soumya’s mother broke down before media today after she came to know of Supreme Court’s order commuting Govindachamy’s death.
Approving the death penalty awarded by the lower Court, the Kerala High Court had classified the rape and murder “among the rarest of rare cases in which the lesser alternative is unquestionably foreclosed”. The court told the prosecution that the statement of the witnesses in the case says that Soumya jumped from the train and that guesswork should not be done in the court.
The apex court had then stated that it is proven before the bench that Soumya was raped.
Apart from the death sentence, the Thrissur fast track court had sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
The incident took place in train number 56608, Ernakulam Junction-Shoranur Junction passenger train immediately after it left the Vallathol Nagar railway station. The court also understands that she died due to head injury.
She slammed the Kerala government and prosecution lawyer for failing to produce concrete evidence against Govindachamy in this case.
Soumya was allegedly thrown off the moving train by Govindachamy, who also jumped off.
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She was found unconscious near the track.
