The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the state to pay 96.16 million won ($84,000) in damages to the family of a murdered college student in a 2010 kidnapping incident, citing improper measures by the police.

A man held the female student hostage in the southeastern city of Daegu in June 2010 and killed her in retaliation for the police's moves to arrest him after evading a police cordon.

In handing down the ruling, the top court said, "The police had failed to take the minimum measures against the risk of the suspect fleeing at a traffic checkpoint even though they found a car driven by whom they believed to be the suspect."

The court also said it is not unreasonable to assume that the police did not carry out what they were supposed to do in anticipation of the seriousness of the consequences on the victim and neglected basic measures that should have been taken in their first investigation.

When the police checked the vehicle, they did not take measures such as the closure of a route through which the abductor could escape and the request of reinforcement to apprehend him.

Knowing the police started to investigate the kidnapping case, the culprit slaughtered the hostage and discarded her on the side of a road. Afterwards, the family filed a damages suit against the abductor and the state to hold the police responsible for their cut-cornering investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, the court limited the state's responsibility for paying the damages to 30 percent of the entire amount, citing "the principle of fairness in sharing damages and all the circumstances taken into consideration." (Yonhap)