HC upholds death for Kolhapur man who brutally killed elderly mother, removed organs | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence handed down to a 41-year-old Kolhapur resident for brutally killing his elderly mother, removing her organs and attempting to cook them, saying there was “a strong probability” of the convict suffering from “pathological cannibalism”.

“The brutality and cruelty with which the convict had dealt with the body of his mother is evident from the fact that he had even cut the genital organ of his mother, which is one of the causes associated with her death,” said the division bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan. “The torture and pain which the deceased must have suffered is unimaginable and unfathomable,” it added.

According to the prosecution, the victim, Yallava alias Chavali Appa, lived alone in Kolhapur’s Makadwala colony. Her son Sunil Rama Kuchkoravi used to visit her for meals twice a day. Sunil’s wife had left him and was residing along with their three daughters and son at her parent’s place, as her husband was addicted to liquor and used to harass her. Sunil also had frequent fights with his mother over her pension and used to beat her if she refused to pay him for liquor.

On August 28, 2017, an 8-year-old girl who was playing in front of the elderly woman’s house spotted her lying in a pool of blood and alerted the neighbours. When police reached the spot, they found Sunil had cut open her body, removed some of his mother’s organs and were about to cook them.

On July 8, 2021, the Kolhapur sessions court convicted Sunil and sentenced him to death, terming the case among the rarest of rare ones.

On Tuesday, the high court upheld the verdict, observing that the trial court had correctly appreciated the circumstances that emerged from the evidence adduced by the prosecution.

“The chain of all the circumstances is intact. All the circumstances unerringly point towards the guilt of the convict. There is no reason for inferring any other hypothesis than that of the guilt of the convict. The evidence is consistent, inspiring, well corroborated and cogent in nature,” said the high court while upholding his conviction.

As regards the death penalty handed down to him, the court said apart from the extreme brutality, cruelty and barbarism with which he murdered his mother, “his conduct was akin to cannibalism and, therefore, he could be a potential threat and danger to the inmates in the jail, in case, sentence of life imprisonment is awarded”.

“A person who could commit such a heinous crime by killing his mother, can do so with anyone else, including his own family,” said the judges, adding, “His social integration, therefore, is unquestionably foreclosed.”

After noticing that there was no possibility of the convict reforming, the judges said, “Under the circumstances, showing mercy or leniency to such a person would be misplacing the concept of mercy. That apart, showing leniency would be a mockery on the criminal justice system.”