Soumya rape and murder case: Proof galore, says Counsel

THRISSUR: There is ample evidence in the Soumya rape and murder case to prove that the convict Govindachamy had pushed the victim off the moving train and raped her inflicting fatal injuries, A. Suresan, the special public prosecutor who ensured death sentence for the convict, has said. The trial court in Thrissur had sentenced Govindachamy, a seasoned criminal from Tamil Nadu, to death in 2011, which the High Court upheld in 2013. There are eye witnesses for him entering the train compartment in which Soumya was alone and those who heard cry from the compartment.  

His semen was found on her body, and there are also eyewitnesses to him escaping from the scene, he said. “I had expressed my willingness to be the prosecution lawyer in SC as well. But I was told to assist the senior standing counsel who was appointed by the previous government. But, except for doubt regarding the dress worn by the victim asked by a junior lawyer in the prosecution team the other day, there wasn't any communication,” he said.

"The judgment is spread over nearly 400 pages, and all documents of evidence and statements of eyewitnesses are spread over more than 4000 pages. The prosecution is bound to give clear answers to the queries of the judge, and there are enough evidence to prove the crime.”

Victim’s mother wants Suresan at Supreme Court

Sumathi G., the mother of Soumya, has expressed shock over reports of the prosecution failure to respond to queries of Supreme Court on Thursday, saying she will immolate herself in front of the Chief Minister's office if convict Govindchamy gets bail. The court was considering death-row convict Govindachamy's appeal. Sumathi told reporters at Manjakkad, near Shoranur, that it was appalling that in a case related to such a heinous crime, the prosecution lawyer failed to present the case properly, and the court asked for evidence of Govindachamy pushing off the victim out of a slow moving train and raping her.

Ms Soumya, a sales girl, travelling in a ladies coach on the Ernakulam-Shoranur Passenger train on February 1, 2011, was attacked and pushed off by the convict. The mother had earlier expressed concern over the appointment of a new lawyer in SC in the case in the first week of May this year.

She wanted special public prosecutor A. Suresan who had argued the case and secured a conviction to appear in the apex court as well. But the government turned it down. “If the prosecution does not present the case in a proper manner in the SC, I will be taking up the matter with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. All the evidence were presented before HC and the speed-track court in Thrissur ensuring capital punishment for him,” she told DC.