The prime accused, K C Hamsa, a well-placed contractor from this northernmost district of Kerala, was also slapped with a fine of Rs 10 lakh, out of which Rs eight lakh will have to be paid to the parents of the 12-year-old girl Safiya who was employed as domestic help in his house here.
Hamsa's wife, Mymoona (37) and a relative Abdullah (58), were sentenced to three years simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each by Kasargod District and Sessions Judge M K Shaktidharan.
Pronouncing the judgement, the Judge held it was a rarest of rare cases. "The accused be hanged by the neck till he dies," he ordered.
The court praised the police and public prosecutor for conducting the investigations in a scientific manner and establishing the facts beyond doubt despite there being no eye-witnesses in the case.
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The girl was subjected to torture and killed by the convict who later claimed she had gone missing.
Public Prosecutor C S Shukkoor said Hamsa was convicted for offences under IPC Sec 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information), 361 (kidnapping from lawful guardianship).
In default in payment of the fine within a year, he will have to undergo imprisonment for another threes.
According to the prosecution case, boiling water was poured on the young girl and she was not provided medical aid.
Later on the presumption that she died, Hamsa chopped her body into pieces and dumped them in a dam site in Goa. Forensic examination had revealed that the girl was alive when she was sliced into pieces on Dec 22, 2006.
The police recovered the skeletal remains of the deceased in a plastic bag from Goa.