Prosecution erred in Soumya murder case, insists forensic expert

Thrissur: Forensic expert and state secretary of Kerala Medico-Legal Society Dr. Hitesh Sankar has insisted that the failure of the prosecution in the Soumya murder case to highlight the confession of prime accused Govindachamy that he indeed had thrown the victim out of the train and the flaws in the post-mortem report led to the reversal the state suffered in the case. Dr Sankar’s article reconstructing the incidents in a local magazine Gokulam Sree appeared amid reports that the Supreme Court has pointed out the prosecution failed to conclusively prove the culpability of the prime accused.

Dr Sanker who conducted medical check-up of the convict on February 3 in 2011 at Thrissur Medical College says that Govindachamy had confessed before him while preparing the medical report that he had pushed Soumya down the train and Dr Sherly Vasu could not effectively present this in her post-mortem report as she took over a forensic surgery done by another doctor for publicity.

“The forensic report of Ms Vasu that Govindachamy hit Soumya’s head on the blunt portion of the compartment six times causing injury was wrong,” the article said. “The injury No.1 was caused by the convict pushing the victim down the slowly moving train and her face hitting the ground and the injury no.2 was caused while raping her and hitting on her head with a stone to keep her silent. The post-mortem report said that aspiration that led to death.”

The body of Soumya was left with face and the chest upwards adding to the aspiration. But a person like Govindachamy did not have the medical knowledge to know such a fact, the judgment staying death sentence of Govidachamy has said, Dr Sankar noted. The intention to murder could have been put forth effectively had it been argued that the injury cause by hitting on the head with a stone was the reason for death, the article said.