Life term for Chandrasekharan killers; political murder undermined democracy, says Kerala HC

Kochi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday sentenced the 12 persons convicted in the sensational T P Chandrasekharan murder case of 2012 to life imprisonment and observed that it's time to take a serious view on political murders as they undermine democratic principles.

A Division Bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Kauser Edappagath upheld the life terms given by the trial court to 10 out of the 11 persons convicted for the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam in Kozhikode district on May 4, 2012.

"Crimes that have the effect of inducing fear in the people to the point where they are prevented from freely exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and expression ought to be dealt with firmly, for they cannot be tolerated in a society that is governed by the rule of law," the bench said, making a serious observation on political murders.

The high court handed down life sentences to two others -- K K Krishnan and Geothi Babu -- whose acquittal by the trial court was reversed by it.

Of the 11 persons convicted and sentenced to life terms by the trial court in 2014, Kunhanandan had died during the pendency of the appeal against the punishment, the bench noted.

Besides them, the high court also upheld the conviction and sentence of three years given to Lambu Pradeep for destruction of evidence.

Of the 12 convicts given life terms, the high court enhanced the punishment of nine including Anoop, Manoj alias Kirmani Manoj, N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, T K Rajeesh, K K Muhammed Shafi, S Sijith, K Shinoj, K C Ramachandran and Manojan.

The high court said they would not be entitled to remission before completing 20 years of imprisonment.

This condition was not imposed by the high court on Krishnan, Babu and P V Rafeek who were also sentenced to life.

Krishnan and Babu are were 76 years and 62 years old, respectively. Considering their age, the court did not impose the same condition on them.

"So far as A18 (Rafeek) is concerned, we do not see the need to enhance his sentence from that imposed by the trial court. He was not charged with conspiracy nor was he attributed with any political affiliation or motive in connection with his role in the murder," the bench said.

It also enhanced the compensation to be paid to the victim's widow, RSP MLA K K Rema, and their son Abhinand.

The high court said a compensation of Rs 7.5 lakh for Rema and Rs 5 lakh for Abhinand would be reasonable. The trial court had given them a compensation of Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively.

During the arguments on the sentence, the high court observed, "It's about time that we take a grim (serious) view about political murders." The bench said that the murder of Chandrasekharan was not only a heinous crime, it also "threatens to undermine the democratic principles by which the people of this country, as a whole, have chosen to be governed".

The bench said that any crime that is committed with a view to silence dissent, which is an integral facet of the right to privacy under Article 21 of our Constitution, has to be seen as a crime against the people at large in a society that has chosen to be governed by democratic principles.

At the same time, the high court said that while the crime committed by the convicts was "abhorrent and despicable", it cannot be categorised as rarest of rare to impose the death sentence on them.

It also said that a sentence of a simple life imprisonment would also not be proportionate to the gravity of the offence committed and "would not meet the need to respond swiftly and sternly to crimes that virtually amount to an attack on democracy itself".

"That apart, the barbaric nature of the crime, where an unarmed man was hacked to death on a highway by six armed assailants who had no known enmity against him but were mere assassins and co-conspirators, needs to be condemned in a befitting manner.

"Not doing so in such a brutal case, by showing undue leniency to the accused, will adversely affect public confidence in the efficacy of our legal system," the high court said.

The convicts had sought leniency in sentencing by claiming that they were innocent, they have their families depending on them and they suffer from various kinds of illnesses.

On the other hand, Special Public Prosecutor P Kumarankutty and the lawyer for the victim's family argued that considering the seriousness of the crime and the gruesome manner in which it was committed, this is a case that falls under the category of 'rarest of rare' cases.

The high court on February 19 upheld the conviction of all the accused who were held guilty by the trial court in the murder case.

The high court had also set aside the acquittal of the two other accused and convicted them for criminal conspiracy in the murder of Chandrasekharan.

The court was considering multiple appeals filed by the convicts seeking to set aside their conviction and sentencing. It also heard the state's appeal to enhance the sentencing of the accused.

There was another appeal filed by Rema, seeking to convict an accused who had been acquitted.

The Kozhikode Additional Sessions Court had in 2014 acquitted 24 accused, including CPI(M) District Secretary P Mohanan in the case.

Chandrasekharan (52) was hacked to death by a gang while he was returning home on his bike.

The then United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala constituted a special investigation team to probe the case. PTI