The Supreme Court has reconfirmed the death penalty given to Manoharan, who was convicted for the abduction, rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother in Coimbatore in 2010. This was Manoharan’s second appeal against the 2012 order by a Coimbatore Mahila court, which had sentenced him to death.
The siblings were kidnapped by Manoharan, who was a taxi driver, in October 2010. The accused then raped the girl and tortured the boy before killing them by drowning them in the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) canal on October 29.
The children’s bodies were recovered, and two days later, the police arrested Mohan alias Mohanakrishnan, and his friend, Manoharan. According to the police, Mohan was shot dead on November 9, 2010, after he tried to hijack the police vehicle and attack escorting officials while they were en route to the scene of the crime.
Manoharan, meanwhile, was found guilty on two counts of murder (for both the siblings) along with the other charges against him.
The death penalty was reconfirmed on Thursday while hearing Manoharan’s review petition. Dismissing the review petition, the majority judgment of 2:1 by a bench headed by Justice RF Nariman upheld the capital punishment for “horribly” gang-raping the minor girl.
Justices Nariman and Surya Kant concurred on dismissing the review petition. However, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said he has a different view.
“In view of the majority judgment, the review petition stands dismissed in its entirety,” the bench said, as per a report by NDTV. Justifying the capital punishment, the bench described Manoharan’s offence as “shocking” and “cold-blooded” and said that it fell into the “rarest of rare category”.
The case since Manoharan’s arrest
In 2012, the Coimbatore Mahila court had awarded a double death penalty and a triple life term to him, which he challenged in the Madras High Court. However, the plea was dismissed by the court. The judges had recorded sharp observations while dismissing his plea and upholding the conviction of the local court. In 2014, Manoharan had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
In August this year, the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty awarded to Manoharan. A review petition was filed by his counsel, who wanted to inspect the case records from the trial court. His counsel argued that Manoharan did not get a proper representation as his lawyers had changed many times. The stay was granted till October 16, 2019, and the court said it would the last time his lawyer would be able to argue on the matter.
In September, the Supreme Court had stayed Manoharan’s execution, which was scheduled for September 20. The three-judge bench that stayed the hanging was led by Justice RF Nariman. On October 16, a top court bench of Justices RF Narinam, Sanjiv Khanna and Surya Kant reserved its verdict on the review petition.
The Supreme Court has now dismissed the review petition and upheld the death sentence given to Manoharan.
Source: The News Minute