Katju to appear before apex court over Soumya case remarks

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju on Sunday expressed readiness to appear before the apex court to explain why the judgement setting aside death penalty in the Soumya rape and murder case must be reviewed.

“I will be appearing before the Supreme Court on November 11 at 2 pm to explain why... the death sentence be imposed on accused Govindachamy,” Justice Katju said in a blog.

The apex court had on October 17 issued a notice to Justice Katju for personal appearance over his remarks that the court had “grievously erred” in its judgement of September 15. The court had then decided to convert Justice Katju’s blog into a suo motu petition.

Notably, Article 124(7) of the Constitution states that no person who has held office as a judge of the Supreme Court shall plead or act in any court or before any authority within the territory of India.

Katju had on September 16 sought an open court review of the judgement, saying it was “regrettable that the court has not read Section 300 (murder) of the IPC carefully”.

On September 15, the apex court had sentenced Govindachamy to life imprisonment for rape. It had quashed the death penalty awarded to him in a 2011 case, in which 23-year-old Soumya died after being sexually assaulted in Kerala. The bench had said it has not been proved that Govindachamy threw the woman out of a moving train or inflicted fatal injuries during the sexual assault, which led to her death.