News

Madras HC commutes death sentence of man who pushed Chennai student before train to life term

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has commuted the death sentence awarded by a trial court to a stalker, who had killed 20-year-old M Sathya by pushing her in front of a moving train in Chennai in 2022, to life imprisonment with riders of no statutory remission for 20 years. A division bench of justices N Sathish Kumar and M Jothiraman passed the order on Thursday on the referred trial of the judgment of the Mahila Court dated December 27, 2024 and the appeal filed by the convict D Sathish, now aged 33. The bench commuted the sentence by considering the reports of the probation officer and the superintendent of prisons, and the age of the accused. It took note of the fact that the accused has no bad antecedents prior to the occurrence and said the possibility of the accused persons reformation is higher and the accused has better chance of being reformed. The very sentencing policy itself is only for reformative justice and not retributive justice, the court said. We are of the view that the death sentence is not warranted and if life imprisonment is awarded, that will meet the ends of justice, it said. The bench modified the judgment pronounced by Mahila Court judge J Sridevi awarding death sentence to Sathish by considering the gravity of the offence and nature of the heinous crime which occurred on October 13, 2022, at the St Thomas Mount railway station. The trial court also punished him for harassing the deceased under Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Act, 1988. However, the high court set aside the conviction and sentence awarded under section 4 of the Act, but did not touch the trial courts order to pay `10 lakh compensation to the younger sisters of the deceased. The bench noted that the courts have to consider the possibility of reintegration of the accused offender into society, particularly when the possibility of reformation is high considering the age, absence of previous criminal history and genuine remorse indicating a significant change in mindset of the accused. The court should see the individual criminal not as an irrevocable criminal, but as capable of reformation when provided with sufficient rehabilitative opportunities, the bench said. Stating that a balancing judicial approach is necessary while awarding punishment, it said the case at hand would not fall in the category of rarest of rare cases. After Sathyas murder, her grief-stricken father Manickam ended his life and her mother Ramalakshmi died four months later of cancer, leaving two younger daughters orphaned.