HC upholds life sentence to tutor who killed student

“It is a case of a crafty man warming and worming into the heart of a young girl and emotionally,may be physically exploiting her,” Justice Pradeep Nandarajog said .

On April 19,1999,Kumar had stabbed to death 20-year-old Priyanka,a second-year student of St Stephen’s College. He had locked himself inside the bathroom of the victim’s Adarsh Nagar house and the police had found him with a blood-stained knife while the girl’s body lay in a pool of blood.

Taking note of the circumstantial evidence that proved his crime beyond doubt,Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar had said Kumar’s act was “diabolic and revolting”. Slapping a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on him,the lower court had further taken into account his unremorseful behaviour during the trial as he had written threatening letters to the victim’s family from jail. It also took exception to his attempt to prolong the trial by submitting various applications.

Justice Nandarajog upheld the trial court’s observations and held that his guilt was established in view of several incriminating evidence —- both direct and circumstantial. The HC,however,dismissed the appeal of the prosecution seeking death penalty for Kumar.

Justice Nandarajog also took to task the investigating officer as he had failed to recover the buttons of the victim’s shirt and bolts of the bathroom door.

“With pain and anguish we must write that in 4 out of 10 cases we are seeing errors of stupidity committed by the investigating officers. It is time for the police to find an answer as to why in 4 out of 10 movies in India,the policeman is shown as a buffoon,” he noted.