Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, was shaken by the Sharon massacre in the year 2022. 23 year old Sharon was killed by his girlfriend 24 year old Grishma by giving him poisonous substance. Now a Kerala court has given its verdict in this case. The court has sentenced the accused Grishma to death. While giving the sentence, the court said – This is a case in the category of rarest of rare.

The Additional District Sessions Court of Neyyattinkara also sentenced another accused Nirmalakumaran Nair (Grishma's uncle) in the same case to three years imprisonment. However, the Additional District Sessions Court has acquitted Grishma's mother in this case.

Grishma had murdered her boyfriend Sharon in 2022 by making him drink Ayurvedic mixture laced with pesticides. Describing this murder as 'extremely cruel, inhuman and disgusting', the court said that it has shaken the collective conscience of the society. Neyyattinkara Additional District Sessions Court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.5 lakh on convict Greeshma. The deceased, Sharon Raj, was a resident of Parasala in Thiruvananthapuram district.

Accused Grishma had studied literature in a private college in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The victim Sharon Raj is a native of Parasala in Thiruvananthapuram district. He was also a final year student of B.Sc Radiology in the same college. There was a close relationship between the two for more than a year. Meanwhile, Greeshma's relationship ended somewhere else. There would be fights between the two. But the relationship continued. Summer was now bored with Sharon. She wanted to get rid of him.

Grishma made this plan

But Sharon was not ready to break this relationship. He wanted to marry Grishma only. Grishma started feeling that Sharon might spoil her life after marriage. The wedding date was also coming near. Then Grishma made a plan. A month before their marriage, Grishma called Sharon to her house on some pretext. There he was given an Ayurvedic medicine.

He had already mixed some poisonous substance in it. Ayurvedic concoctions are usually bitter, so Sharon didn't find anything unusual. However, after Grishma left the house, she started feeling restless and started vomiting while traveling in the bus.

Sharon called her brother

Sharon then called her brother from the bus. Told him the whole thing. He also told that Grishma had given him something to drink. Sharon's brother immediately took her to the hospital. But during treatment, Sharon died on 25 October 2022 at the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Many of his organs had stopped working. After his death the family lodged a complaint with the police. Grishma was arrested on 31 October 2022.

Can appeal in High Court

For leniency in the sentence, Grishma cited her educational achievements, no previous criminal record and being the only daughter of her parents. However, in its 586-page judgment, the court said that the accused's social background, family circumstances, age, absence of criminal record and his good conduct cannot be considered as factors to exclude him from the category of 'rarest of rare cases'.

However, Grishma can challenge this decision in the High Court regarding the punishment. Greeshma is the second and youngest woman to receive death penalty in Kerala, and the 40th death row convict in the state.