Will appear before SC for Soumya's judgment debate, Markandey Katju says

NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has said that he will appear before the apex court on November 11 to explain why the judgment in the Soumya case requires review.
Markandey Katju confirmed in a Facebook post on Sunday that he had received the notice from Supreme Court.
"I will be appearing before the Supreme Court in the Soumya case on 11th November at 2pm to explain why the judgment requires review, and death sentence should be imposed on the accused Govindachamy," the former judge announced on his Facebook page on Sunday.

After the Supreme Court's verdict in the Soumya rape-and-murder case, Justice Markandey Katju had said that the delivered judgement was 'wrong'. Katju had said that it was "regrettable" that the court has not read Section 300 carefully. "The judgement needs to be reviewed in an open court hearing," he added.

The top court took note of his views and said "such a view coming from a retired Judge of this Court needs to be treated with the greatest of respect and consideration."
"We therefore reproduce herein below the blog published by Justice Katju in Facebook annd convert the same into a suo motu review petition," the apex court added.
The top court had then issued notice to Katju request him to appear in person and participate in the proceedings on November 11 at 2pm to debate if the judgment and order passed by the bench suffered from any fundamental flaw so as to require exercise of the review jurisdiction.
23-year-old Soumya, an employee of a Kochi shopping mall, was assaulted by Govindachamy in an empty ladies' coach of Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1, 2011.
She was allegedly pushed off from the slow-moving train, carried to a wooded area and subsequently raped. She succumbed to injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, on February 6, 2011.
Govindachamy was awarded death sentence by a trial court and the order was upheld by Kerala high court on December 17, 2013.
However, the apex court acquitted him from the murder charge and convicted him only for committing rape. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment.
The apex court, in its verdict, had held that there was no intention on part of the accused to kill the victim. A day after the verdict, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, in a Facebook post, said, "The Supreme Court has grievously erred by law by not holding Govindachamy guilty of murder."