"Judge asked Greeshma if she had anything to say about her sentence": Public prosecutor reveals how Greeshma got death penalty

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Public prosecutor VS Vineeth has clarified at what stage he realized that the accused Greeshma would get the death penalty in the Sharon case. "Sharon Raj has gone through the worst pain a human being can feel in the world. The court also understood this, which is why the accused got the biggest punishment," Vineeth said.

"To be honest, the first time I thought that the case would end in the death penalty was when the court mentioned about the punishment. After calling the accused, the judge asked if she had anything to say about the punishment. The court recorded a number of things said by the accused Greeshma. Then the arguments of the prosecutor and the defense lawyer were heard. After that, I was convinced that the judgment would fall into the rarest of rare category. I felt very satisfied when the court also accepted that conviction."

After writing the verdict, the nib of the pen which was used to write the verdict was not broken by the judge. The 568-page judgment was delivered by Neyyattinkara Additional District Sessions Judge AM Basheer. After the verdict, everyone including the lawyers, was staring to see if the judge was breaking his pen, but it didn't happen. Senior lawyers say that Judge AM Basheer does not follow such a philosophy or practice.

One argument is that the judge breaks the pen once a death sentence is imposed and the judgment is signed, to avoid having to consider reconsidering it. A person's life is being taken away by the death penalty. It is said that judges put away or break the pen as a symbol of their belief that the pen should not be used for other purposes. AM Basheer is one of the judges who does not believe in either of these practices.