Kerala High Court Acquits Death Row Convict After He Spends Over 10 Years In Jail, Grants Rs 5 Lakh Compensation

The Division Bench comprising Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. was dealing with his appeal and the reference for confirmation of sentence by the Sessions court.

It found that a botched-up investigation was conducted by the police by adducing sham witnesses and there was a total absence of objective enquiry by the Sessions Court to assess whether the case falls within the rarest of rare category warranting death penalty. It thus granted Rs. 5 lakhs compensation to the appellant for living through the threat of death penalty for ten long years.

“There was no evidence whatsoever before the learned Sessions Judge to convict the appellant under any of the sections of the IPC under which he was charged, much less to sentence him to capital punishment under sec. 302 of the IPC. To top it all, there has been a total absence of any semblance of objective enquiry by the learned Sessions Judge towards ascertaining whether the case at hand was one that qualified under the categorisation 'rarest of the rare' justifying the imposition of capital punishment.”

On analyzing the entire evidence, the Court concluded that there was absolutely no scientific evidence connecting the appellant to the crime. It stated that the recovery of gold ornaments made from the appellant was unreliable and there was failure to examine witnesses. The Court also noted the fatalities and discrepancies in the investigation and found that inference of guilt could not be established from the circumstantial evidence adduced by the prosecution. The Court stated that the prosecution had failed to establish the chain of events and held that the Sessions Judge should not have arrived at such a finding. 

Court said liberty and freedoms cannot be infringed through the imposition of highest penalty of a death sentence by a slipshod investigation and improper appreciation of evidence. It found that there were no reasons for arraying the appellant as accused in this matter and his conviction and incarceration was due to systemic failure.

Relying upon Apex Court decisions in Rudul Shah v State of Bihar (1983), Neelabati Behra v State of Orissa (1993), D K Basu v State of West Bengal (1997), Nambi Narayanan v Siby Mathew (2018), Court held that ends of justice would only be met if the appellant is awarded compensation for violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“We have also taken note of the fact that the ignominy of over 10 years incarceration suffered by him was compounded by the trauma of living through the said period with the ever present threat of death sentence, which made life even more miserable and despairing to the appellant. Accordingly, we deem it fit to direct the State Government to pay to the appellant an amount of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh only) towards compensation on the above count, which amount shall be paid to him within a period of three months from the date of this judgment. Thereafter, it shall attract an interest of 9% per annum till the date of payment.”

As such, the Court answered the death sentence reference in negative and disposed of the criminal appeal. 

Counsel for Accused: Advocate M Rajesh

Counsel for Complainant: Special Public Prosecutor Ambika Devi S

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 411

Case Title: State of Kerala V Gireesh Kumar & Connected Matter

Case Number: DSR NO.5 OF 2018, CRL.A NO. 1241 OF 2018

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