Sri Vijaya Puram, April 30: A court in Mayabunder has sentenced a man to life imprisonment in connection with a 2022 murder case registered at PS Mayabunder, in a judgment that also awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for causing grievous injuries.
The sentence was pronounced by the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge, North and Middle Andaman, in connection with a violent attack reported from Tugapur-8 on September 28, 2022.
According to the prosecution case, the accused attacked members of his family with a sharp weapon, leading to the death of his mother-in-law and leaving another victim seriously injured.
Following the incident, police registered a case under Sections 302 and 326 of the Indian Penal Code at PS Mayabunder. The investigation was led by Inspector Usman Ali, who was then serving as Station House Officer and also acted as the investigating officer in the case.
Police department sources said the probe involved witness examination, forensic analysis and collection of material evidence. Investigators said the evidence placed before the court helped establish the charges against the accused.
After examining the material on record, the court found the accused guilty under Section 302 IPC for murder and Section 326 IPC for causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons. Along with life imprisonment for murder, the court also awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the second offence and imposed fines under the relevant provisions.
Officials said the conviction underlined the importance of professional investigation and effective prosecution in securing justice and reinforcing faith in the criminal justice system.
Other cases linger
The conviction comes at a time when several other serious murder cases in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands remain under investigation or judicial scrutiny.
In April 2025, Swaraj Dweep was shaken by the recovery of the dismembered body of a 35-year-old man from a forested area, a case that triggered widespread concern and became one of the most disturbing killings reported in the islands in recent years. Local reports had described it as the second brutal murder in the islands within weeks.
Another case that drew attention was the 2023 murder of a man at Swaraj Dweep that police said was solved within 48 hours. Reports at the time said the investigation led to swift arrests after the body was found in Govind Nagar.
The long-pending Shyamal Mandal murder case has also returned to focus. In March 2026, the CBI said it had arrested a proclaimed offender in the 2005 abduction and murder case after nearly 17 years on the run. The case involved kidnapping for ransom before the victim was killed, according to agency statements.
Together, these cases show how violent crime in the islands can range from domestic and family-linked killings to especially brutal murders and cases that remain alive in the system for years.
National Crime Records Bureau data does not place the islands among regions with high absolute numbers of murder, but because of the Union Territory’s small population, even a limited number of cases can create a sharp per-capita impact. A republished NCRB 2014 table showed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a murder rate of 2.2 per lakh population, among the higher rates recorded across Union Territories that year. The NCRB’s later Crime in India datasets have continued to separately track murder and other violent crimes for each State and Union Territory.
For the islands, the issue is often not just the number of cases but the depth of public impact. In small and closely connected communities, every serious murder case tends to generate intense scrutiny. That is why convictions such as the Mayabunder judgment, and progress in older or more complex investigations, are watched closely as indicators of how effectively the system is responding to violent crime.
