Madras HC reduces life sentence of migrant worker for murder

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court reduced the life imprisonment conviction imposed on a migrant worker from Odisha in a murder charge to 5 and half years of rigorous imprisonment.

A division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice V Sivagnanam altered the life conviction imposed by the lower court as the prosecution failed to establish the motive and intention for the murder, and the weapon used to kill – coconut fibre — is not a deadly weapon.

The case’s factual background is that the accused, Binojyakka, moved from Odisha to Coimbatore in search of employment. On January 31, 2019, the accused trespassed into the garden of the deceased Sivasamy at Ganesapuram in Annur.

Annoyed by the intrusion of the accused into his property, Sivasamy asked him to go out and forcefully took him out of his property, said the prosecution.

Sivasamy’s action charged the accused, prompting him to attack Sivasamy with coconut fibre in the spur of the moment, causing him to fall unconscious.

Witnessing the incident, neighbours chased the accused, which made him fall and get injured all over his body, said the prosecution.

The Annur police booked the accused under section 302 of the IPC and filed a charge sheet based on the statements of the eyewitnesses.

Perusing the documents, the sessions court in Coimbatore found the accused guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine.

Aggrieved by the conviction, the accused moved the petition seeking to set aside the sentence.