In what was observed as the “rarest of the rare” case, where a mother and daughter were raped and murdered in front of each other in 2007 in Idukki, the second accused has been convicted. After almost 12 years after the crime, the Thodupuzha second additional sessions judge KK Sujatha, on Thursday, awarded death penalty to the second accused Jomon Poruvelil, a native of Kumily in Idukki.
Jomon has also been sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment and has been imposed with a fine of Rs 50,000. He will have to serve an additional 12 years of imprisonment if he fails to pay the fine, says the court order.
The first and the main accused in the case, Rajendran, was awarded death sentence on June 20, 2012, by Thodupuzha second additional sessions judge TU Kuruvila. Although he moved the High Court, his plea was rejected. On October 30, 2018, the Kerala High Court confirmed the death sentence awarded to Rajendran.
Although the two accused were arrested in December 2007, Jomon was, surprisingly, granted bail in a case involving a heinous crime. He then went absconding. But it took nearly five years for the police to track Jomon. Finally, they arrest him in June 2012.
The incident
Jomon and his Rajendran were accused of raping and killing their neighbours, a 55-year-old woman and her 22-year-old daughter, on December 2, 2007.
On learning that the women were alone at home, Rajendran and Jomon entered the victims’ house in an inebriated state. The woman and her daughter were staying alone in the house with the latter’s seven-month-old baby.
The two accused broke open the doors of the house, strangulated them till they lost consciousness and then raped them. They then hacked the women to death and then raped the dead bodies, the police said in the FIR.
While the crime was being committed, the seven-month-old child was in the house. The incident came to light when the next day, around 5 pm, the baby crawled to the courtyard of the house and a neighbour spotted blood marks on the child’s body.
“Although Jomon said he was innocent, the prosecution proved the case on the basis of the scientific evidence and accordingly awarded death penalty to him,” says special prosecutor EE Rahim.
According to the police, the two accused were quarry workers and were constantly on the prowl for women who lived alone. In fact, Rajendran was an accused in another rape case but was let off due to lack of evidence.
The daughter and her son had come home to take care of her mother, who was a person with mental illness. At the time of the crime, the woman’s husband was working in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. According to the police, on the day of the crime, the accused started consuming alcohol at a tea shop and later that night, broke into the house of the victims.