Satisfied with judgment but can't say I'm happy: Soumya's mother

A little over 15 years ago, Madhavi Vishwanathan's world turned upside down and she lost her younger daughter to a brutal murder in south Delhi on a September morning.

- Ashna Butani and Snehil Sinha

Madhavi, now 74, has never stopped thinking about her child-the 25-yearold television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan who was killed while four men were trying to rob her at Nelson Mandela Marg.

Over 300 court hearings later, and a heart that continued to mourn, Madhavi said on Saturday: "I am satisfied with the judgment, but I cannot say that I am happy... What I want is my daughter back but she cannot come back." Madhavi said it was the judgment she had hoped for.

A Delhi court on Saturday awarded life imprisonment for the four accused who killed Soumya on September 30, 2008. Madhavi said her husband MK Vishwanathan, who was present for most of the hearings along with her, is now in the intensive care unit of a hospital as he recently underwent a bypass surgery.

Tearing up outside the courtroom, she said her elder daughter, who works in Nairobi, has come to Delhi and is with her father. "My daughter is with him, and they are watching the judgment... But I am unable to register what is happening," said Madhavi.

Soumya, who worked with a private channel, was shot dead in her car while returning home from work, between 3.25 am and 3.55 am.

On October 18, the prosecution had proven the case through scientific evidence, testimonies of witnesses and the confessional statement of one of the accused. Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Ajay Kumar and Baljeet Malik, were found guilty of the murder. The four were sentenced to life imprisonment and another life sentence under the sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The court directed that the two life sentences would run consecutively.