KOCHI: The Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court-II on Friday awarded twenty years imprisonment to Jayanandan, the accused in the murder of an 85-year-old woman of Chennamangalam in Paravur. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the accused.The court held that, based on the ‘Swami Sradhananda case,’ the accused was not entitled to claim or get remission of sentence before serving at least 20 years of imprisonment.The accused was also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years. He was also fined Rs 25,000 under section 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery). In addition to this, the accused was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 under section 449 (House trespass). The court further held that the imprisonment shall run concurrently.The case is that on May 5, 2005, Jayanandan entered the house and attacked Elikutty who was sleeping. The accused stole bangles weighing two sovereigns and two earrings from her. Elikutty died in a private hospital later.“The accused is so inhumane and barbaric. He was involved in many other cases and had been sentenced to capital punishment in the Puthenvelikara Baby murder case,” Judge P G Ajith Kumar said.The court further observed that the case had a mischievous history. “Earlier three persons were arrested in the case. They were brought to the court for trial. Subsequent to a report by the investigating officer, the case was kept in abeyance. Ultimately Jayanandan was charged and the other cases were dropped,” the court said.The prosecutor P G Manu submitted that the case would come under the ‘rarest of the rare’ category and the accused deserved capital punishment. The court said that the accused murdered Elikutty in the most cruel manner. Jayanandan left the weapon in the wound which further shows the gravity of his brutishness, the court observed. The court held that the case cannot be termed as the ‘rarest of the rare’ since it is difficult to say the offence shocked the collective conscience of society.
Comments
0 comment