Chennai:
Madras High Court on Monday confirmed the death sentence
awarded on Manoharan, the only surviving accused in the gang-rape and murder of
two school children, by the sessions judge of Mahila court in Coimbatore.
Mohanakrishnan, the other accused in the crime, was
killed in an encounter with the police two weeks after the incident which
happened on October 29, 2010.
Justice S Rajeswaran and Justice P N Prakash passed the
98-page order while stating that the accused will be a menace to the society as
could be inferred in the manner in which he raped a 10-year old girl and pushed
a 7-year old boy in the canal.
The judges while quoting a Supreme Court verdict in
similar circumstances said that they have to follow the path of the Apex
Court. “The two children were kidnapped,
one of them gang raped and both of them were given poison and pushed into the
canal alive where they suffered a watery grave. We are inclined to follow the
foot steps of the Supreme Court and we hereby confirm the award of death
sentence to Manoharan, the accused,” the judges observed while quoting from
Vana Parva in Mahabharata on whether it is dharmic to award penalty.
Setting aside charges pertaining to kidnapping and
holding the children for ranson, the judges said that motive for murdering the
children was to cover up the evidence of kidnapping by Mohanakrishnan and rape
by both of them.
“The offence is one of rape of a minor and murder of two
children. The hands of girl were tied behind and one after the other they have
raped her. After committing rape, cow dung powder which contains auramine and
which is normally used for committing
suicide was purchased from a shop and milk was purchased from another shop,”
the judges observed.
The judges also rejected the theory by the defence
counsel A Raghunathan questioning the evidence of under garments as well as strands
of hair hairs that may have been planted by police. “If we are to allow
ourselves to be persuaded by this argument, it would lead to ludicrous results
in as much as we will be holding that the Judicial Magistrate had also connived
with the Police in this alleged concoction,” they observed.
The children were picked up from their home by
Muthukrishnan, who was the ex-driver of Surya Cabs October 29, 2010. He was later
joined by Manoharan. The duo initially planned to extort money but later
changed their plans. The girl was raped and then both the children were thrown
into the canal at different places by Muthukrishnan and Manoharan
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