Savvy Thakur
Published on: October 23, 2022 at 18:19 IST
Upholding the conviction of a 28-year-old man who set a class IX student on fire in 2018 merely because she rejected his proposal, the Madras High Court has said such incidents are on the rise and only reflect the fact that man considers woman their property and wants to own or “forcibly take her under his control” without understanding that she is a human being, who is entitled to “decide on her wishes”.
“This is yet another case where a man did not have the maturity to accept the rejection of love proposal made to the deceased and hence, decided to kill her in a gory fashion by pouring petrol on her and setting her on fire,” said the court.
The division bench of Justice J Nisha Banu and Justice Anand Venkatesh further observed:
“This loathsome act was committed by the appellant with the only motive that the girl who did not reciprocate the love proposal made by him, should not live in this world and she should not have any relationship with anybody else in this world.”
The accused in the case was a mechanic who worked on air conditioners. He “fell in love” with the 14-year-old girl, but she told him in “categoric terms” that she didn’t want to date him.
However, he continued to harass her, and a complaint was also made against him in 2017. The court noted that the police case “resulted in a enmity towards the deceased and the appellant’s aggression” was only getting worse.
The victim was restrained by the accused on February 16, 2018, as she and her friends were making their way home from school.
According to the police case, he then poured gasoline over her and lit her up with a cigarette lighter.
On February 27, 2018, the girl suffered burns to her entire body and passed away as a result of her injuries.
In 2019, the accused Balamurugan was found guilty under Sections 302 and 342 of the Indian Penal Code and given a life sentence.
Even though his attorney brought up a number of “discrepancies” in the prosecution’s evidence during the appeal, the division bench was satisfied that there was solid evidence to support the appellant’s guilt.
While dismissing the convict’s appeal, the court stated, “In the considered view of this Court, we come to a categoric conclusion that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt with abundant evidence and there is absolutely no ground to interfere with the well-considered order and judgment passed by the Court below.”
Need to Focus on Emotional Quotient
The court said that love and hate are linked in a complicated way. A serious study by psychologists shows that, under certain conditions, a person’s love generates a “corresponding level of hate” when negative events happen with their romantic partner.
The court stated, “Regardless of the study’s findings, mutual respect for a woman must begin at home and be instilled by parents and society as a whole.”
It was noted that today’s youth are “too short on the emotional quotient,” and that even the smallest disruption or rejection prompts them to take extreme actions without fully comprehending the repercussions.
It is past due that our educational system shifts its emphasis away from the intelligence quotient and toward the emotional quotient.
The court stated, “Regardless of how bright or successful a child is, if this is not done, he will not be ready to face emotional challenges, and the situation will get worse when parents start pampering their children instead of guiding them.”
According to the court, the 28-year-old man was following a girl in her ninth grade class with the expectation that she would respond positively and start a relationship.
“He chose to resort to a monstrous act of pouring gasoline on the girl and lighting her on fire when it failed to fructify.”
It went on to say that “He did not realize that this foolish act will bring to an abrupt end his connections with society and will confine him to the prison for his life.”