Govt did everything it could in Soumya case: Minister A K Balan

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government Friday said it had done everything it could to get justice for the family of 23-year-old Soumiya who was raped and killed in 2011.

Law Minister A K Balan told reporters that the government had done whatever it could in the sensational case and there was nothing more it could do.

The Supreme Court has yesterday dismissed a curative petition filed by the government challenging the dropping of murder charge against convict Govindachamy in the sensational Soumya rape case.

The Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, criticised the government for its "laxity" in handling the case.

Soumyas mother said she felt saddened by the verdict as "once again justice was denied to the family".

The incident had taken place when Soumya, an employee of a Kochi shopping mall, was travelling in the ladies coach on the Ernakulam-Shoranur passenger train on February 1, 2011. She was attacked and pushed off the train by Govindachamy, the prosecution had said.

It had also said that the man jumped off the train, carried the injured woman to a wooded area near the track at Vallathol Nagar and raped her. She succumbed to injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, on February 6 that year.

The apex court had on September 15 last year dropped the murder charge against the convict but had upheld the life term for raping her.