HC comes to the rescue of mentally ill woman

Coming to the rescue of a mentally ill woman who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 for killing her three children by throwing them in a well, Madras High Court today set the verdict after considering the report by a government doctor.
A division bench comprising justices M Jaichandren and S Nagamuthu gave relief to Jayalakshmi on her appeal against the lower court order, after considering the medical report by Dr Meenakshi stating that she was suffering from "Psychomotor Activity Retardation" (slowing down of thought processes and physical activity, a serious mental illness).
Rejecting the arguments of the Additional Public Prosecutor that the disease could not have made the woman incapable of knowing what she was doing was wrong, it said, "We find no force in the said argument for the simple reason that the medical records coupled with the evidence of the doctor would go to establish that the accused was incapable of knowing the nature of her act on account of the unsoundness of her mind."

"We are of the view, assuming that the accused had thrown her children into the well, it is not an offence in the eye of law, considering her illness," the bench said and set aside the life imprisonment awarded on February 2, 2012 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court in Salem.
The bench acquitted Jayalakshmi of all the charges filed against her.
The prosecution charged her with killing her three children by throwing them into a well and then jumping in herself on September 4, 2008 due to poverty. Though the children drowned, Jayalakshmi survived as the water in the well was not deep.

A case was registered at the police station concerned in Salem district and after the trial Jayalakshmi was sentenced to life on various counts.