KOCHI: The Kerala High Court upheld the death penalty of the accused in the death of the law student in Perumbavoor. The high court verdict was on the plea filed by the accused Ameerul Islam gets death sentence in law student’s murder case, high court upholds sentenceIslam, a native of Assam, who demanded to acquit him. The division bench of the high court dismissed the appeal and upheld the death sentence.

The woman of Perumbavoor and the law student was killed on April 28 in 2016. The accused committed the crime after trespassing into her house in the Puramboke land. The autopsy report stated that she was brutally raped. There were 38 wounds on her body. The accused was arrested on June 16 in the same year at the end of the investigation conducted.

The trial court sentenced him to death after months of trial. The accused filed an appeal in the high court against the verdict. He said that he is innocent and the evidence against him was fabricated by the police. Scientific evidence was created after his arrest. Someone else committed the crime. His plea said that he does not know Jisha and should release him.

He had earlier filed a plea stating that he should be transferred to a jail in Assam. He approached the court pointing that his wife and parents in Assam are in extreme poverty and are facing difficulty in visiting him in Viyyur. The court had rejected this. The present law requires permission from the high court to execute the death sentence. The government had also approached the high court seeking permission for the death penalty. The high court considered this plea also.

Ameerul Islam will be the next person after Ripper Chandran to be hanged in Kerala. Ripper Chandran, who killed 15 people, was hanged at the Kannur Central Jail in July 1991. Jail records said the executioner of Pollachi was paid Rs 2 lakh to execute the sentence awarded to him. The last execution was carried out in Poojappura Central Jail in 1979. Azhakesan of Kaliyakkavilai was the last to be hanged.