South Central

South Central Ep 11 | RG Kar and Greeshma-Sharon Raj case: Reading the judgements

This episode of South Central by Dhanya Rajendran delves into the complexities of India's death penalty system, examining two recent judgments and the role of public emotion in legal proceedings.

Written by : Dhanya Rajendran, Leena Gita Reghunath

In episode 11 of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Leena Reghunath are joined by TNM’s senior journalist Nandini Chandrashekar, investigative journalist  Poonam Agarwal and lawyer Anup Surendranath.  The first topic they discuss is the differing judgments in two legal cases, one from West Bengal and one from Kerala. Why did a judge give Sanjay Roy life imprisonment in the RG Kar case and why did another judge give Greeshma the death penalty in the Sharon Raj murder?   

Anup argues that the RG Kar judgment is a better interpretation of the law. He says that the judge in this case is aware of what the Supreme Court has said about when to choose life imprisonment and when to choose the death penalty. Anup says that this was not done in the Greeshma case.  He believes that the judge had a "shocking ignorance" of what the Supreme Court requires, and that the judge "cherry picked" the judgments that he liked. 

Leena says that the public are trigger happy and many times judgements are a reflection of this.

On PM Cares, Poonam questions why financial statements have not been made public. “Why do we need to know these details?  Because donations were made by us as well.  As a citizen, many people donated during COVID.”   

All this and more—tune in!

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Audio Timecodes 

00:00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:43:00 - Announcements

00:02:40:00- Headlines

00:07:15:00 -  RG Kar and Greeshma case

00:48:28:00 - PM Cares secrecy

01:14:14:00 - Recommendations


References

The H-1B visa debate: Where race, caste and systemic flaws collide

Sharon murder case: Why the court awarded 24-year-old Greeshma the death sentence

Bengaluru crime files: An engagement that cost an innocent life

Seven murders, one confession and missing evidence: The 'Ripper' story

I bailed my son out for love: Dhasvanth's father tells TNM it was his biggest mistake

TNM-NL Investigation: 30 firms facing ED, IT probe donated Rs 335 cr to BJP

Why are financial statements missing in PM CARES Fund reports?


Recommendations

Poonam Agarwal

Tehraan

Paatal Lok

Autobiography of a Yogi

Anup Surendranath

Black Warrant


Leena Reghunath

How to get away with murder

It’s Already Different


Nandini Chandrashekar

Empire | Podcast on Spotify 


Dhanya Rajendran

A Life in the Shadows : A Memoir 

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Produced by Megha Mukundan, edited by Jaseem Ali