Perumbavoor rape-murder case: Death sentence of Ameerul Islam upheld by HC

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the death sentence given to accused Ameerul Islam in the controversial Perumbavoor murder case in which a law student was brutally killed after being raped. 

Confirming the death sentence of Ameerul Islam, the High Court division bench also dismissed the appeal of the convict seeking relaxation in his death sentence.
 
The trial court in Kochi had earlier given capital punishment to Ameerul Islam in the brutal murder and rape case. The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court had observed that the case came under the rarest of the rare and cold-blooded murder category while sentencing him to death.

The law student was murdered on April 28, 2016. Her postmortem report had revealed that she was also subjected to rape and had sustained 38 wounds on her body. Ameerul Islam, an Assam native, was later arrested on June 16 following the probe. He was nabbed on the basis of scientific evidence as the case lacked any eyewitnesses. 

As per the prosecution, Ameerul had broken into the victim’s make-shift house on a Poramboke land near a canal. 

The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court convicted and sentenced him to death after months-long trial following which Ameerul moved the High Court seeking a relaxation in death sentence.  He had claimed that he was innocent, the evidence produced by the police were manipulated and that he had no prior acquaintance with the victim.

As per the prevalent system, if the trial court gives capital punishment to a convict, then the high court’s confirmation is required for the same. Hence the prosecution moved the High Court seeking permission for the death sentence of Ameerul Islam.