On Tuesday (16th July), the Supreme Court stayed the Kerala High Court’s verdict and death sentence for Muhammed Ameerul Islam, the lone perpetrator in the horrific Jisha rape and murder case.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice B R Gavai and including Justices Sanjay Karol and K V Viswanathan, delayed Ameerul’s conviction and death sentence after hearing his appeal. The Supreme Court, while issuing certain directives, has scheduled a hearing after another twelve weeks.
“The respondent state (Kerala) shall place before this court the report(s) of all the Probation Officers relating to the appellant (Ameerul) within eight weeks. The Superintendent of Prison, Central Prison & Correctional Home, Viyyur, Kerala, shall submit a report with regard to the nature of work that has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report with regard to the conduct and behavior of the appellant while in jail, within a period of eight weeks,” the Justice Gavai-led bench said in the order.
The top court further stated that the Govt Medical College, Thrissur, shall form a qualified team to conduct a psychological evaluation of the appellant. It stated that the appraisal report should be given to the court within eight weeks by the standing counsel for the state of Kerala.
Ameerul, who was convicted and sentenced to death in the gruesome Jisha rape and murder case, recently filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse the HC judgment. Ameerul, a migrant labourer from Assam, stated in his appeal to the Supreme Court that his conviction and punishment were based on supposition and surmise rather than strong proof. “The HC erred in convicting and sentencing him in the case,” he stated in his appeal filed with the Supreme Court.
He has also claimed that the police and investigators falsified evidence against him and that his arrest was irregular. “The prosecution also failed to establish that he had any motivation to conduct the crime, and the witnesses and evidence provided in the case do not inspire confidence,” he said.
According to the prosecution, the mangled corpse of Jisha, a Dalit student at Ernakulam Government Law College, was discovered in her Perumbavoor home on the morning of April 28, 2016, sparking widespread anger. Ameerul was arrested for rape and murder after allegedly breaking into Jisha’s home in a drunken state the night before.
On May 20th this year, the Kerala High Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed by an Ernakulam sessions court on Ameerul, the lone accused in the case. The Sessions Court and, eventually, the High Court declared Ameerul guilty and condemned him under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder), 376 (rape), and others.
Jisha Murder case: What happened in 2016?
In the years 2016 through the present, the Kerala High Court and the Ernakulam Sessions Court tried the Jisha murder case. The case was filed based on an FIR filed by the Kuruppambady Police Station.
According to the court document, a 30-year-old law student named Jisha, belonging to the Dalit community was found dead in her house beside the Periyar Valley canal in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam on 28th April 2016. Protests from her classmates at Government Law College, Ernakulam, assisted in pushing the case forward significantly.
The culprit, Ameer-ul-Islam, was apprehended by the Kerala Police. The accused was charged with murder and rape under the IPC by the Ernakulam Session Court on December 12, 2017, and sentenced to life in jail. However, on May 20th, 2024, the Kerala High Court revised the sentence to capital punishment.
According to the FIR filed on April 29th, 2016 at Kuruppambady Police Station, Jisha, a 30-year-old law student, had been discovered dead at her place of residence near the Periyarvallley canal in Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. The deceased’s mother discovered the body of the woman and gathered the neighbours by screaming for help.
The front door to the residence was locked from the inside. The sub-inspector, who was on patrol then came through the back door. The victim was lying inside the centre of the room, partially naked and bleeding profusely. The deceased had many stab wounds and was also disembowelled.
The cops acquired evidence at the spot and sent the body for postmortem, which revealed that the death occurred between 12 noon and 9 pm on April 28th, 2016. Postmortem examination also revealed that the woman had 38 wounds on the body. The deceased was most likely raped and injured during the effort to resist these assaults.
The body also exhibited symptoms of strangling. The fatality was caused by a combination of strangulation, smothering, and haemorrhage. According to the report, the postmortem doctor, Dr. Liza John, verified the evidence of a sexual assault.
Accused Ameerul was arrested by the Police and tried in the Court
The investigating Police identified the accused as Ameer-ul-Islam and filed a case against him under the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Kuruppambady. The complaint was filed under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, claiming that the accused committed an offence punishable under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. On the 16th of June 2016, nearly two months after the incident, the Kerala Police apprehended Ameer-ul-Islam who was a 22-year-old migrant labourer from Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu.
Ameer, a migrant laborer who lived was accused of knowing that the victim was alone in their home and barging in with arms, intending to rape her.
The prosecution stated that the victim, who resisted the attempt, was brutally stabbed by the accused out of frustration, with one of the injuries being a grievous penetrating injury deep inside her genitals caused by repeated stabbing of her vagina in such a way that a small portion of her internal organs protruded from the body. The accused exited through the back door, walked toward the canal, and threw the knife aside.
It was further stated that after the crime, the accused fled to Assam by train which he probably boarded from Aluva Railway Station.
Accused convicted of rape and murder
The accused was brought before the court, and charges were filed against him under Sections 449 (trespassing), 342 (wrongful confinement), 376, 376A (rape and murder), 302 (murder), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Sections 3(1)(a), 3(1)(w)(i) & (ii), and 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Advocate Biju Antony Aloor represented the accused who disputed the claims and pleaded not guilty.
Following an examination of around 100 witnesses, the Court considered 291 material shreds of evidence. After a lengthy trial, the court declared the accused not guilty of violating Sections 201 IPC, 3(1)(a), 3(1)(w)(i) and (ii), and 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. However, he was found guilty of violations under Sections 449, 342, 376A, and 302, and was convicted of murder under special charges and sentenced to death, among other penalties in 2017.
The crime gained momentum and attention from political parties as it happened around the state elections that year. Many politicians addressed the issue of women’s safety and condemned the gruesome murder. The film industry had also joined forces to demand justice for Jisha.
The government further promised to provide a financial compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Jisha’s family. Many artists and humanitarians also extended financial support to the case which resulted in additional controversies.
Controversy around Ameer’s arrest
Several people following the case raised questions over the arrest of the accused blaming the government for fabricating the evidence in the case. It was believed that the accused when arrested was 22 years old and malnourished and that he was incapable of holding a 30-year-old healthy woman captive. The authorities further discovered a pair of 9-inch slippers beside the canal that were suspected to be Ameer’s. But Ameer’s foot size was claimed to be 7 inches.
It is also alleged that Jisha’s mother Rajeshwari was hiding the facts from the authorities and that she had strained relations with her deceased daughter. The individuals supporting convict Ameer claimed that Rajeshwari was associated with INC leader PP Thankachan and that she knew who had murdered her daughter. She took financial assistance from those demanding justice for Jisha and allegedly used it to gamble around. However, the claims were denied by both Rajeshwari and PP Thnkachan.
However, the accused was found guilty of violations under Sections 449, 342, 376A, and 302, and was convicted of murder under special charges and sentenced to death, among other penalties in 2017.
Case reminding Nirbhaya brutality: Call for women safety
This case reminds of a similar gruesome murder of ‘Nirbhaya’, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who was raped and murdered by 6 men in a South Delhi bus. The men raped the woman in a moving bus and damaged her internal organs using an iron rod. They also assaulted her male friend and tossed the duo off a moving bus, leaving them naked and without their things on the side of the highway. 4
Nirbhaya was transported to Safdarjung Hospital, where she received emergency care and was discovered to have several bite marks and other injuries on her body. She was then transported to Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital by air ambulance, where she died of her injuries on December 29th, 2012.
The case caused public anger and nationwide protests, highlighting the frequency of sexual violence against women in India, as well as the country’s insufficient response to their safety. In 2015, public outrage grew after the BBC aired a documentary called India’s Daughter, which featured an interview with one of the inmates who blamed the victim for what happened. The documentary caused such disturbance in India that it was prohibited, and television news outlets that were supposed to broadcast it instead showed a blank screen.
The six men accused in the case were Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh, Ram Singh, and a juvenile whose identity was protected. The four convicts – Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh were hanged in Tihar jail in 2020 and the juvenile was released after three years of punishment. Ram Singh committed suicide.
Several terrible assaults against women continue to occur today, despite the implementation of strict regulations aimed at improving women’s protection. Women continue to be raped, assaulted, and murdered, yet justice is rendered in relatively few cases. The juvenile who murdered Nirbhaya was released; Aftab Poonawalla, who cut a 27-year-old woman into 30+ little pieces, is yet to be hanged; and, also in Jisha’s case, the SC has suspended accused Ameer’s death sentence.
Although the law protects women and their safety, there are various other laws that assist the accused in defending their case, leaving the families of the victim girls to struggle for justice. This is obviously unfair. Every perpetrator charged with a serious offense against a woman should be treated as a demon and hanged, ensuring justice for the victims and their families. This is the only way how women will feel protected and begin to have complete trust in the judiciary and the administration without any hesitation.
