Bombay HC confirms death penalty to Kolhapur man who murdered, cooked his mother

The Bombay High Court said the case falls within the ‘rarest of rare’ category justifying award of capital punishment.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence of a man from Maharashtra's Kolhapur who was previously convicted of murdering his mother, dismembering her and attempting to cook parts of her body. Holding him guilty of murder under Section 302 of the Indian penal Code, the Kolhapur sessions court imposed death penalty on the convict, Sunil Rama Kuchkoravi, in July 2021.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Revati Monite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan confirmed the death penalty imposed by the Kolhapur sessions court.

The court said that the acts of the man came close to cannibalism and there was no scope for his reformation and sentenced him to death besides imposing a fine of Rs 25,000.

"Since he was habituated of slaughtering and eating flesh of pigs and cats, perhaps he must have killed his mother in a similar manner in order to eat her flesh, which is evident from the record. We have, therefore, in para 31 of our judgment expressed our view as to how there is a strong probability of the convict having syndrome of pathological cannibalism," the court observed, describing the crime as "most brutal, barbaric, and gruesome".

The court further said that awarding imprisonment for life to the convict would be risky as he would be a potential danger to the other inmates in jail considering his inclination towards cannibalism.

"The case, therefore, falls within the ‘rarest of rare’ category justifying award of capital punishment," the HC held.

The incident dates back to August 28, 2017, when Kuchkoravi murdered his 60-year-old mother, Yallava Kuchkoravi, at their home, eviscerated her body parts and tried to cook the parts of her body with salt and chilli powder.

Despite his violent behaviour against her, Yallava, a widow living on a meagre pension, had been providing her son with meals despite. The violent actions often stemmed from disputes over her pension money.

The murder came to light when an 8-year-old neighbour girl discovered Yallava's body lying in a pool of blood while Kuchkoravi stood nearby with blood on his hands and clothes.

In its judgment, the court highlighted the trauma inflicted on the victim as well as on the society as a whole. “A common man would find it quite difficult, distressing, frightening and unsettling even to have a glance at the photographs, which would speak more than a thousand words,” the court said, suggesting a possibility of "pathological cannibalism."

The court also rejected the defense's claims of insanity, noting that there was absolutely no material placed on record in that regard and also admonished Kuchkoravi for taking a false defence.

“The torture and pain with which the deceased must have suffered is unimaginable and unfathomable. The convict had torn apart the right portion of her body and thereafter removed the soft organs as above. He had also cut the neck of the deceased,” the court observed, adding that the convict’s wife and children had already abandoned him.

The brutality of the crime indicated a significant threat to society, concluding that “showing mercy or leniency to such a person would be misplacing the concept of mercy.”

In its ruling, the court reiterated the principle that the death penalty should be reserved for the “rarest of rare” cases, where the crime is so atrocious that it shocks the collective conscience of society.

The present case, falls under the category considering the gory facts of the case, the HC bench underlined.

It also noted that the convict showed no lack of remorse, penitence or repentance and he just feigned innocence contending that he does not remember anything.