A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence awarded to Vembayam resident Anil Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murdering a native of Thiruvallam and raping and assaulting his wife in 2016, who remains in a vegetative state. Anil Kumar was sentenced to death in 2019 by the Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Judge.
During that time, he will not be eligible for parole for 30 years. The court further upheld the life sentence awarded by the sessions court to Anil Kumar’s associate and Tamil Nadu native Chandrasekharan.
The sentences imposed on the accused are imposed concurrently.
While upholding his conviction, a division bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Jobin Sebastian commuted Anil Kumar’s death sentence on the basis of a mitigation study report that suggested the possibility of reformation. Besides, the death penalty is reserved only for cases that qualify as “the rarest of the rare,” the court said.
Published – 15 Oct 2025 21:23 IST
