According to the prosecution,[1][2] the deceased girl, aged 23, hailing from a poor family at Shornur got a small job at an institution in Ernakulam.
She and her family consisting of her younger brother and their mother were eking their livelihood from the monthly salary being earned by her.
Both the families also concurred to have such an alliance and thereby they decided to conduct a ceremony for fixing their betrothal at the house of the deceased on 1 February 2011.
She boarded the ladies division in the last compartment of the Ernakulam-Shornur Passenger Train, which started at 5.30 p.m. on 1 February 2011, to Shornur, from the Ernakulam Town North Railway Station.
[1] The prosecution case is that the accused, Govindaswamy, who is a habitual offender, could notice that the deceased was left alone in the compartment.
When the train left Vallathol Nagar Railway Station, and moved towards Shornur, the accused swiftly hoisted into that ladies compartment, and rushed to the victim.
The screaming victim frantically ran here and there in a fury in the limited space available in the compartment, in order to escape from the clutches of the accused.
Even though one of them wanted to pull the alarm chain to stop the train, he was dissuaded by a middle-aged man who was standing at the door at the right rear side of that compartment by stating that the girl had jumped out and escaped, and further by warning that he should not drag others unnecessarily to court.
Immediately they rushed to the guard of the train and complained about the incident, which triggered in the search of the track by some young men of the locality, and the Gang-man of the Vallathol Nagar Railway Station.
In the last consultation by the neurosurgeon at 14.30 on 6 February 2011, ECG was found to be flat line, BP was not recordable, and cardiac sounds were not heard.
[1][2] [1] (aged 30, from Virudhachalam, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu)[1] has been found guilty in the rape and murder case of Soumya by the Thrissur fast track court judge, KN Raveendra Babu, on 31 October 2011.
[3] Pronouncement of judgment has been delayed for 4 November since the Public Prosecutor submitted before the court the documents to prove previous convictions of the accused which showed that he had undergone imprisonment in eight cases in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and trial of another robbery case was in progress.
[1][5][6] Supreme Court (bench composed of Mr. Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla C. Pant and Uday Umesh Lalit) set aside murder charges and altered to rigorous imprisonment for seven years under Section 325 IPC, stating that: "The death of the deceased was occasioned by a combination of injury no.1 and 2, and complications arising therefrom including aspiration of blood into the air passages, resulting in anoxic brain damage.
The same, in the opinion of the doctor, had occurred due to the fact that the deceased was kept in a supine position for the purpose of sexual assault.
The court has rightly retained the maximum possible punishment of life imprisonment on the accused who is a potential threat to society.
[17][18][19] On 6 January 2017, The Supreme Court has accepted Justice Markandey Katju’s apology and closed the contempt proceedings against him.
[21] On 11 November 2016, The Supreme Court dismissed the review petition against the verdict discarding the death penalty for convict in Soumya’s murder,[22] stating that "the role of the accused in causing injury No.
"[23][24][25] On 28 April 2017, a Six Judge Bench of Supreme Court has dismissed the curative petition filed by Government of Kerala stating that no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of the court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra & An.