New Delhi: Underlining that his crime has shaken the conscience of the society, the Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced to death a man for the gruesome rape of a 10-year-old child and the double murder of her and her seven-year-old brother.
In 2010, Manoharan along with a co-accused, kidnapped the children when they were on their way to school, and took them to a remote area in the Coimbatore district. The minor girl was sexually assaulted and both the children were then fed milk laced with poisonous substances before they were thrown into a nearby canal.
By 2:1, a bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman dismissed the review petition filed by Manoharan against the death penalty order.
Reading out the verdict for himself and Justice Nariman, Justice Surya Kant said that the circumstances of the case were sufficient to shake the conscience of the society and that the crime deserved the maximum punishment.
The judge added that there is no reason to reconsider the punishment and that the order of conviction and sentence shall stand.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, however, dissented with the majority verdict and said that although he was also affirming Manoharan's conviction, the punishment of life imprisonment without remission should be adequate in his opinion.
Finally, the bench in its final order noted that by majority, Manoharan's review petition stands dismissed in its entirety. It was in August when the Supreme Court had upheld Manoharan's death sentence, prompting him to seek review.
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