Kerala law student rape and murder case: High Court upholds death penalty awarded to accused Ameer-Ul-Islam

Kochi: In a major verdict, the Kerala High Court upheld the death sentence awarded to accused Ameer-Ul-Islam, a native of Assam, in the raping and murdering of an LLB student in Perumbavoor case. The appeal was filed by the accused challenging the conviction. The argument of the accused in the appeal was that he did not commit the crime and the trial court considered the evidence fabricated by the police against him. Jisha, a law student, was killed on April 28, 2016 in Perumbavoor.

Besides contesting the death sentence, Ameerul had requested a re-investigation of the case by a central agency. He argued that the sessions court's verdict was influenced more by societal pressure for harsh punishment rather than the evidence presented. The appeal highlighted the apparent inclination of the sessions court towards meeting society's demand for stringent penalties. On the contrary, the prosecution emphasized that the severity of the crime deeply affected both the judiciary and society's conscience.

The accused committed the crime by trespassing into the woman's house. The postmortem report stated that the victim was brutally raped, with 38 wounds found on her body. Following the investigation, the accused was arrested on June 16 of the same year. After months of trial, the trial court pronounced the death penalty. In response, the defendant appealed with the High Court challenging the verdict.

The accused had previously filed a plea requesting to be transferred to a jail in Assam, citing his family's dire financial situation, which made it challenging for them to visit him in Viyyur. However, the Supreme Court rejected this plea.
 

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• Jisha murder case
• death penalty
• Kerala High Court
• uphold