Court Is Not An Institution To Sermonise Society On Morality And Ethics: Supreme Court
Court was dealing with an appeal moved by a woman convicted of murder of her own children.
The Supreme Court recently in an appeal filed by a woman sentenced to life imprisonment for murder of her children, observed, "This Court is not an institution to sermonise society on morality and ethics and we say no further on this score, bound as we are, by the brooding presence of the rule of law".
A division bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, while allowing premature release of the appellant, said, “This Court feels that there is no valid reason/justifiable ground for the State not accepting the recommendation of the State Level Committee for premature release of the Appellant. We are not oblivious to the crime but we are equally not oblivious to the fact that the Appellant (mother) has already suffered at the cruel hands of fate.”
The bench added that the act of the appellant could not be bracketed as ‘cruel and brutal’ as noted by the State Level Committee on premature release as the appellant herself was trying to end her life but was prevented by her niece in the nick of time. Moreover, recommendation by the Committee as conveyed by the Director General/Inspector General of Prisons also recorded undisputed conduct of appellant in the long period of incarceration already undergone, the Top Court noted.
On the submission that conviction under Section 302 IPC be converted to Section 304 Part I, IPC, Court interpreted the decisions in Guruswami Pillai v. State, 1991 (1) MWN (Cr.) 153 and Suyambukkani v. State, 1989 SCC OnLine Mad 481 to arrive at the conclusion that the facts in those cases were different and hence could not be applied in the present matter.
Brief Background:
The appellant had an affair with a man who used to threaten her often. This compelled her to commit suicide along with her children.
While she administered poison to her twins, when the appellant poured the pesticide into a tumbler to consume it herself, her niece pushed it down. However, the two children were declared dead on arrival in the hospital leading to institution of FIR No. 115 of 2003 dated 28.03.2003 at Sempatty Police Station under Section 302 IPC, 1860.
Upon trial, Additional District and Sessions Judge convicted the appellant under Sections 302 and 309 IPC, 1860 and sentenced her to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000, failing which she was ordered to undergo simple imprisonment for a further period of three months under Section 309 IPC.
The high court partly allowed the appeal acquitting her under Section 309 while upholding her conviction under Section 302, IPC.
Case Title: Nagarathinam v. State through the Inspector of Police | CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1389 of 2023