New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the punishment of four persons for the murder of a software engineer in 2003 while allowing them to seek clemency before Governor.
A bench of Justices M M Sundaresh and Aravind Kumar said the convicts, who committed the offence in 2003 when they were young with "adrenaline pumping in their veins", were now middle aged.
"As we are satisfied with the adequacy of the evidence on record, though for different reasons, we are inclined to uphold the conviction and sentence rendered by the high court in the impugned judgment," the court observed.
The bench, therefore, confirmed their conviction upheld by the high court under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC aside from Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC for one of the accused.
"The sentence of life imprisonment imposed upon them also stands confirmed."
The top court said two of the four accused persons were teenagers at the time of incident whereas the fiancee of the victim had barely "crossed that phase".
"As a court, we seek to view the matter from a different perspective, only for the purpose of giving a new lease of life to the appellants who have committed a heinous crime…, the bench said, observing their conduct in the prison was also not adverse.
The verdict continued, "They were not born as criminals, but it was an error of judgment through a dangerous adventure which led to the commission of a heinous crime. It is difficult for us to decide at this stage who influenced the other, although there is a clear meeting of minds."
The bench then allowed them to file appropriate petitions before Karnataka Governor in eight weeks.
"We would only request the constitutional authority to consider the same, which we hope and trust would be done by taking note of the relevant circumstances governing the case," it said.
Dealing with the deceased's fiance's conduct, the bench said that this unfortunate event would not have occurred, had the family been more sympathetic in understanding her mental predilection and disposition.
The top court said it was a case where the voice of a young ambitious girl, muffled by a forced family decision, created the fiercest of turmoil in her mind.
"This, backed by an unholy alliance of a mental rebellion and wild romanticism, led to the tragic murder of an innocent young man, while simultaneously destroying the lives of three others," it observed.
The top court delivered its verdict on the appeals challenging the Karnataka High Court order upholding the life term awarded to the four accused.
B V Girish, a software engineer, was engaged to Shubha and he was murdered on December 3, 2003.
The police alleged Shubha and three others -- Arun Verma, Venkatesh and Dinesh -- conspired and murdered Girish two days after his engagement on November 30, 2003.
Shubha allegedly acted in cahoots with her boyfriend Arun and others to murder Girish after her father forced her to get engaged on learning of her affair.
On December 3, 2003 Shubha asked Girish to take her out for dinner at a hotel and made him stop his scooter near an airport to view airplanes landing.
All the four were sentenced to life by the trial court.