'Imprisonment till last breath' can be imposed only by High Court or Supreme Court: Karnataka HC
Bengaluru, Jul 22: The High Court of Karnataka has reduced the sentence of a murder convict from "imprisonment till his last breath" to "life imprisonment" that would entitle him for remission after 14 years.
The High Court, which gave its judgment on an appeal filed by the convict recently, said that "such special category sentence can only be imposed by High Court or Supreme Court and not by trial court" as held by the Supreme Court in its judgment in the case of Union of India vs V Sriharan alias Murugan and others.
Two appeals were filed before the HC by Harish and Lokesh, the first and third accused in the murder of one D R Kumar.
Harish was in love with Radha, the wife of Kumar, and this led to the plot to murder the latter. On February 16, 2012, when Kumar was working in a field in Chollemarada village in Hassan district, Harish hit him on the head with a rod, kicked him on the head and chest and murdered him.
Later, with the help of his brother Lokesh, he transported the body in a goods rickshaw and buried it in a vacant land.
Harish, Radha and Lokesh were put on trial and convicted by a sessions court in Hassan on April 25, 2017. Harish was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life i.e., till his last breath, and a fine of Rs 50,000 under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. He was also sentenced under Section 120(B) and Section 201 of the IPC. He was also ordered to pay Rs 3 lakh to the two children of Kumar.
The HC bench of Justices K Somashekar and Rajesh Rai K upheld the conviction of Harish but said the sentence by the trial court was not correct.
"The sentence imposed against accused No. 1 by the trial court by directing him to undergo imprisonment i.e., till his last breath is concerned, in our considered opinion the said sentence is not sustainable under law for the reason that the Hon'ble apex court in the case of Union of India vs V Sriharan alias Murugan and others. In such circumstances, the sessions court cannot exercise such power to impose imprisonment to accused No. 1 till his last breath," it said.
The HC said the Supreme Court has mandated three tests -- crime test, criminal test and rarest rare test -- in such cases.
"So for as the present case is concerned, both the crime and criminal tests have been satisfied against the accused but, rarest rare test is concerned, the prosecution failed to prove the same by leading cogent evidence that the crime was committed in a barbaric manner and hence the instant case would not fall under the category of rarest of the rare case. As such, the punishment awarded by the trial court by imposing the imprisonment to accused No. 1 till his last breath has to be modified to life imprisonment instead of the last breath of his life," the HC said.
The HC also set aside all the charges against Lokesh. It said "the prosecution failed to prove his guilt by leading any cogent evidence". He had been convicted by the trial court solely on the basis of the voluntary statement of the co-accused (Harish). "It is the settled position of law that the voluntary statement of the co-accused cannot be a base for conviction of other accused," the HC said.
The petitions of the first and third convict were heard and a common judgement delivered by the division bench. The second convict (Radha) had not filed an appeal.
The bail and surety bond of Harish was cancelled and he was given two weeks to surrender before the trial court to serve his sentence.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
