“A holistic examination of the material on record shows that the barbaric offence in question could only be termed as a rarest of rare case…I direct that they (convicts) shall be hanged by the neck till they are dead,” Additional Sessions Judge VG Sreedevi said.
"Taking into consideration the brutality of attack, the vulnerability of the victim and the diabolic notes, acts of perversion cumulatively would definitely justify the imposition of the death penalty," said Sreedevi who had convicted the accused on January 20.
The convicts sentenced to death were Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Sameer, Naseer, Shakeer Hussain, Shaji alias Poovathil Shaji and Shernas Ashara. They showed no symptoms of repentance, the court noted.
“Since the 10th accused (Navas) is hospitalised, he was not heard on the question of sentence. Hence, his case is split up,” the court wrote in its 184-page verdict.
Sreenivasan – an advocate and Kerala state secretary of the BJP’s OBC Morcha -- was hacked to death at his house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality on December 19, 2021, in front of his wife and mother.
“They have chosen a person, who is a philanthropist, a benefactor of society, a good person by all means and a practising lawyer. There is no criminal antecedent reported against him,” the court said.
Sreenivasan’s murder was to reportedly avenge the murder of SDPI’s state secretary KS Shan at Kuppezham Junction at Mannancherry, Alappuzha, allegedly by RSS activists a day before.
“The accused persons are not strangers or hired persons for ransom. But, they are the office-bearers holding responsible posts in the said organisation. Another aspect is that throughout the trial, when the accused persons were in the dock, there was no symptom of repentance on their face. But, it appears from their body language that what they have done has a justification in their minds because they have the firm belief that what they have done is morally right,” the court noted.
“So, I am of the view that the defence-less victim who had never provoked the accused and the commission of offence was a premeditated one…The most important aspect is that the heinous crime was committed in the comfort zone, ie, in the house of the victim, in the presence of his mother, wife and minor child showing the brutality of the crime,” the judge said.
