The Kerala High Court refused to confirm the trial court's death sentence on finding that the crime could not be categorized as being a "rarest of rare" case, and in view of the rehabilitation prospects of the convict.
The Court said that encroachers of government land are not entitled to any equity and there is no public interest to assign a property when there is admitted encroachment.
TP Chandrasekharan, a former member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] who founded the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP), a breakaway of CPI(M) was murdered in 2012.
"I would like to suggest, if you want you can cooperate with the summons once. This is just a suggestion. I will ensure there is no arrest, no intimidation," single-judge Justice Devan Ramachandran said.
The Court made an exception for an 85-year-old widow and allowed her to reclaim a part of her waterlogged property, which otherwise would not have been permitted as per the Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act.