RAPE-MURDER

Soumya's mother receives threat call as Kerala set to file review plea

sumathi-soumya-murder.jpg.image.784.410 Sumati, Soumya's mother

Days after the supreme court's verdict commuting the death sentence of Govindachami, a convict in the rape and murder of a Kerala woman, the victim's mother claimed that she received threat call from an unknown person on Sunday.

Sumati said that the person warned her against going ahead with the case and pressing for death penalty for the convict. She revealed it to Congress leader T. Siddique who visited her at her residence.

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Two women police officers had been assigned to provde security for Sumati after the supreme court delivered its verdict. Police said they would take action over the threat call after informing the court.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to file a review petition in the top court. 

"Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi will appear for the state government and would request for an open court hearing in the case,"  Law Minister A.K. Balan said.

"We are trying to bring the case under the purview of section 302 of IPC," he said.

The 23-year-old Soumya was attacked, raped and pushed out of a moving train on February 1, 2011. She succumbed to injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, on February 6, 2011.

The apex court dropped the murder charge against Govindachami and commuted his death penalty to seven years of jail while upholding the life imprisonment awarded by a trial court on charges of rape.

Balan said the AG would contend in the court to review the case under the ambit of section 302 of the IPC, as section 325 (voluntarily causing grevious hurt) had been invoked by the apex court which itself had recognised one among two major injuries on Soumya's body as a reason for her death.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Topics : #Kerala

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