Judge recuses himself from ripper case

KOCHI: Justice B Kemal Pasha, judge of a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, recused himself from hearing an appeal filed by Jayanandan alias ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan, a murder accused. In fact, the case was posted on Friday for delivering a verdict on the appeal. When the division bench comprising Justice V K  Mohanan and Justice Pasha held a sitting in the morning, the latter announced that he would like to recuse from the case. The prosecution case was that Jayanandan of Mala murdered Baby alias Devaki, 51, and attacked her husband Ramakrishnan on October 2, 2006. The Bench had last week reserved the judgment for Friday after completion of the arguments from both the sides. The Bench had even examined the accused to elicit from him the matters which had a bearing on the question of sentence. The prosecutor had produced a chart showing criminal antecedents of the accused. He contended that the accused was involved in 23 criminal cases. Another death sentence awarded by the Thrissur Principal Sessions Court to Jayanandan in the Perinjanam double-murder case had been commuted to life imprisonment by the High Court.