Justice Markandeya Katju asked to appear in Supreme Court after Facebook post on Soumya case
After he said in a Facebook post that the Supreme Court had seriously "erred in law" by reducing the sentence of the convict in the 2011 rape and murder of 23-year-old Soumya in Kerala, Justice Markandeya Katju has been asked to explain his views in court.
Last month, the Supreme Court said Govindachamy, who was sentenced to death by lower courts, will not hang as there was no evidence that he had murdered Soumya. The convict's sentence was reduced to 14 years in jail, which caused outrage in Kerala and devastated Soumya's family.
"I submit that the Supreme Court has erred in law in not holding the accused guilty of murder, and its judgment needs to be reviewed to this extent," Justice Katju said in his critique on Facebook.
The outspoken former Supreme Court judge has been asked to appear in court on November 11. The same day, the top court will also hear Soumya's mother and the Kerala government's request for a review of the judgement.
Soumya, who worked in a mall, was on her way home when she was attacked by Govindachamy, a serial offender. Govindachamy grabbed her by the hair and hit her head repeatedly against the wall of the coach. After she was thrown off the moving train, he jumped after her, hit her with a stone and raped her in her wounded state.
She died five days after the savage attack.
On September 15, the court cancelled Govindachamy's death sentence saying there was no evidence that he had caused Soumya's death or had intended to kill her.
Commenting that there had been a "gross error of judgement", Justice Katju wrote that the court had relied on hearsay.
He also said by law, a person is guilty "even if there was no intention to kill, if the accused inflicts a wound sufficient to cause the death of a person in the ordinary course of nature."