(Left) Govindachamy, SoumyaThiruvananthapuram: A larger bench of the Supreme Court will consider a curative petition filed by the Kerala government in the sensational Soumya rape and murder case on Thursday.
The government filed the curative petition challenging an earlier verdict which acquitted Govindachamy, the convict in the case, of murder charges and set aside the death penalty awarded to him by a lower court.
A six-member bench, heded by the chief justice of India, will hear the petition. The bench consists of three judges who heard the case earlier and three senior judges.
The curative petition, which is the last resort to seek restoration of an earlier verdict, was filed after the apex court on November 11 dismissed the review petitions filed by the government and Soumya's mother.
The apex court last year set aside the death penalty awarded to Govindachamy saying there was no intention on his part to kill the victim but only to sexually assault her.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court had on December 17, 2013 confirmed the death sentence awarded by the Thrissur fasttrack court to Govindachamy from Virudanagar in Tamil Nadu, the lone convict in the case.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place when Soumya, an employee of a Kochi shopping mall, was traveling in a ladies coach on the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1, 2011 and was attacked and pushed off from the slow-moving train by Govindachamy.
