Overview
- A division bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan and K V Jayakumar allowed Babu C G's appeal on January 12, 2026, setting aside the life sentence in a 2011 Kottayam case.
- The court found he lacked competent legal representation for long stretches and personally cross-examined six witnesses, while some witnesses were examined without him present.
- It criticized the Kottayam sessions judge for usurping the prosecutor’s role by conducting chief examination and for adjourning the matter over a hundred times after the charge was framed.
- Noting roughly 14 years of judicial custody across investigation, trial and the appeal, the bench declined to order a de novo trial and directed refund of any fine.
- The court asked that its order be sent to the Kerala Judicial Academy for guidance, and his counsel said he remains jailed due to a separate murder conviction.