Umesh Reddy’s mother to seek presidential pardon

The mother of notorious killer and rapist Umesh Reddy, awarded the  death penalty, will file a clemency petition before president Pratibha Patil. B Gowramma, mother of  Reddy, will file the clemency petition on Tuesday.

“All human beings are fallible. The prosecution in the said case has submitted before the court that Umesh Reddy is mentally sick and is not capable of exercising his discretion,” said Gowramma.

“The police, who are unable to arrest the persons behind several heinous crimes, went on indicting Reddy as he was an easy target,” the mother said, adding that Reddy was also weak.

“Umesh Reddy has not committed any offence against the state nor has he been involved in anti-national activity to warrant death penalty. I am not opposing the death penalty when granted to a terrorist or an anti-national, but I wish to convey to you (the president) that Umesh Reddy is innocent and is a victim of failure of justice. Reddy is the breadwinner in our family as his brother Hanumantha Reddy, is also unwell and suffers from various diseases. He was working as a police constable before he was arrested,” she said.

Umesh Reddy was convicted by a division bench of the Karnataka high court on October 4, 2007 for the rape and murder of Jayashree Maradi Subbaiah, a widow, on February 28, 1998, in Peenya. But the judges had differed on the quantum of sentence – while Justice VG Sabhahit confirmed the lower court’s order imposing death penalty, justice Ravi B Naik differed, saying the death penalty has failed to curb crime, and modified the lower court’s order to rigorous imprisonment for life. A city fast track court had earlier convicted Umesh Reddy on October 26, 2006.
On February 1, the Supreme Court upheld the Karnataka high court judgment and upheld the death sentence.