Attingal twin murder: Kerala HC commutes death sentence of accused Nino Mathew to life imprisonment

Ernakulam (Kerala) [India], May 24 : The Kerala High Court has commuted the death sentence imposed on the accused, Nino Mathew, in the 2014 double murder case in Attingal to life imprisonment.
The court ruled that for the first 25 years, the defendant is ineligible for parole. The division bench also upheld the double life sentence of the second accused and friend of Nino Mathew, Anusanthi.
Justices PB Suresh Kumar and Johnson John wrote separate judgments in favor of quashing the death penalty. The judgment prepared by the Division Bench of the High Court begins with Chanakya's dictum that there is no disease as destructive as lust. An innocent child and a helpless woman were killed. The first accused, Nino Mathew, will be charged with murder.
Nino Mathew and second accused Anushanti were charged for murder, criminal conspiracy, attempt to destroy evidence and theft.
As per the court order, the accused was exempted from death penalty as there were some favorable circumstances. The sentence was commuted on the grounds that the accused was not a habitual offender. The case is not the rarest of the rare. Nino Mathew is not much of a threat to society, the court said.
The Division Bench of the High Court observed that the death sentence was not necessary. The judgment of Justice Johnson John also said that the punishment period so far will be in the range of 25 years. Both the accused have to pay a fine of fifty lakh rupees as awarded by the trial court.
The division bench, in its judgment quashing the death sentence, held that the punishment for the offenses charged under different sections would be sufficient to be served together.
On April 16, 2016, Nino Mathew allegedly stabbed Anushanti's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter and her husband's mother to death at Anushanti's house in Thiruvananthapuram's Attingal. The first accused Nino Mathew and the second accused Anushanti were employees of Technopark.