Stephan Kayyar 

Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP) 

Kasargod, Aug 31 : Kerala High Court has reduced the death sentence awarded to the convict, accused of killing a 14-year-old girl named Safiya, who was employed as a domestic help in his house. 

K C Hamza (51), a resident of Muliyar Mastikunda and a contractor working in Goa, was convicted for murder by the Kasargod Principal District Sessions Court and awarded death sentence on July 16, 2015. 

He was accused of murdering Safiya, daughter of Moidu and Ayisha, residents of Aiyangeri in Madikeri. Safiya worked in Hamza’s house as a maid but went missing in December 2006. A missing complaint was registered in Adoor police station in Kerala. 

Safiya and K C Hamza 

Local police who took up investigations, failed to trace Safia. This prompted the locals to form Safiya Action Committee, a campaign pressuring law enforcing authorities to trace the missing girl. The case became a media sensation. The investigation was then handed over to crime branch, who during inquiry found out that Safiya was murdered. 

Police arrested Hamza, the person who employed her as domestic help. Further investigations revealed that the dead body of Safiya was buried near a under construction dam in Goa, where Hamza worked as a contractor. The skeleton of Safiya was exhumed on June 5, 2008. 

The murder had taken place on December 22, 2006. Safiya was taken to Goa without informing her parents. While cooking, boiling gruel had fallen on Safiya, causing severe burn injuries. But instead of taking her to hospital, Hamza kept her at home, fearing that he would be caught on charges of child labour. The girl was then murdered, her dead body was cut into pieces, stuffed in gunny bag, taken in a car and buried near the dam work site. 

The dead body was retrieved from the work site in 2008 with the help of a JCB. Her skeleton and clothes were sent to forensic laboratory. The tests proved that the skeleton was of the missing girl. All the accused in the case were arrested. 

Maimoona, wife of Hamsa and third accused, was awarded a three-year jail term under IPC Sections 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and three years for 361 (Kidnapping from lawful guardianship), while their aide M. Abdulla, fourth accused, was given three years in prison for hiding information. The second accused, Moidu Shaji, and the fifth accused, assistant sub inspector P.N. Gopalakrishnan, were acquitted for lack of evidence by the Sessions Court on July 16, 2015. 

The High Court Bench on August 29, while reducing the sentence, observed that the first accused Hamza, did not have any criminal antecedents. Taking a cue from Supreme Court judgments, the court felt that the death penalty need not be imposed on the accused. The Bench also cancelled the punishment given to Maimoona and Abdulla.