Soumya was returning home by train when she was attacked and raped by a serial offender in Kerala.
A convict who raped a young woman on a rail track in 2011 after allegedly throwing her off a moving train in Kerala will not be given the death penalty. The Supreme Court today rejected the Kerala government's curative petition for reviewing its earlier order of giving the convict Govindachamy a life sentence. The Supreme Court had already dismissed the Kerala government's review petition; the curative petition was the state government's last legal option.
In September last year, the Supreme Court had reduced Govindachamy's sentence to 14 years in jail, saying there was not enough evidence that 23-year-old Soumya had been murdered or pushed off the train.
However, the doctor who had examined Soumya's wounded body has said that there was
no doubt her death was murder, not an accident. "The victim was in no condition to even escape or react after six severe head injuries were inflicted on her," Shirley Vasu had told NDTV.
Soumya, who worked at a mall in Ernakulam, was returning home by train when she was attacked and robbed by Govindachamy, a serial offender. The prosecution told the court that he pushed her when she struggled.
Govindachamy also jumped off the train after her, hit her with a stone and raped her. Soumya died five days later.