Kerala Court sentences 14 PFI-SDPI workers to death for murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan

A court in Kerala's Alappuzha district on Tuesday handed down death penalty to 14 of the 15 persons convicted for the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer, Ranjith Sreenivasan..The accused Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Sameer, Navas, Nazir, Zakir Hussain, Shaji Poovathungal and Shernas Ashraf had been convicted by the Mavelikara Additional Sessions Court on January 20.On Tuesday, the Additional Sessions Judge VG Sreedevi pronounced the sentence and awarded the death penalty to 14 of these convicts, who were reported to have been members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).However, the Court has yet to pronounce its sentence with respect to one of the convicts (accused number 10), Navas."Since the 10th accused is hospitalized, he was not heard on the question of sentence. Hence, his case is split up," the Court explained. .While 12 of the accused were convicted under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code, the remaining three accused were convicted under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 120B (criminal conspiracy). .Sreenivasan, who was the State secretary of the BJP’s OBC Morcha and a lawyer, was hacked to death by the accused at his house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality on December 19, 2021, in front of his mother and wife.The killing of Sreenivasan was said to be a retaliatory strike to avenge the murder of SDPI’s State secretary KS Shan at Kuppezham Junction at Mannancherry, Alappuzha, allegedly by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists the night before.The trial Court on Tuesday noted that Sreenivasan was a "philanthropist, a benefactor of society, a good person by all means and a practicing lawyer" who was defenceless when he was attacked by the accused. "Taking into consideration the brutality of attack, the vulnerability of the victim and the diabolic notes, acts of perversion cumulatively would definitely justify the imposition of death penalty," the Court further commented. .The Court went on to remark that the brutality of the murder was apparent from the manner in which the skull and tooth of the victim were scattered following the attack mounted on him."The said commission of crime shocked the minds of people in the society and it also shocks the judicial conscience," the Court said. The Court also noted that the convicts were office bearers holding "responsible posts" in their organisation, although the organisation itself was the banned PFI."The report of the State shows that the accused persons are hardcore criminals and there is no chance for reformation because they are very deeply interested in the affairs of the said organization which is widespread in the country and in case such activities are allowed to continue in society, it would definitely hamper the peace in the society. Moreover, it should be deterred, for which, a deterrent punishment is required," the judge added. .Other factors considered by the court in imposing the death penalty included that the accused had believed that they were morally justified in committing the murder, and that the chances of the accused indulging in crime in the future could not be ruled out. "The most important aspect is that the heinous crime was committed in the comfort zone ie., in the house of the victim, in the presence of his mother, wife and minor child and he was denuded are all showing the brutality of the crime," the court further noted, before imposing the death penalty. .Special Public Prosecutor Prathap G Padickal represented the State. Advocates PP Haris, KM Shyju, Shaiq Rasal M, Delson Devis P, Balu Aravind, Shemi Kalam Padickal, Kiran C Vinoy, Baiju Louis Mookken, Jesto Paul A, Sohail Ahammed, Yaha CS, KN Prasanth, EA Haris, John S Ralph, Vishnu Chandran, Apoorva Ramkumar, and Ralph R John represented various accused persons. .Corrigendum: An earlier version of this article had incorrectly reported that all 15 convicts were sentenced to death, whereas the sentence is yet to be pronounced with respect to 1 of the convicts. The error has been rectified and is regretted. .[Read Judgment]