Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the district sessions and mahila court in Tiruppur, to complete the trial and dispose of the rape and murder of a woman constable case, which was pending for over 6 years, within three months.
Allowing a petition from P. Mariammal, mother of the deceased Jayamani, Justice M.S. Ramesh gave the above directive. In her petition, Mariammal submitted that on August 23, 2009, her daughter while returning home after ‘bandobust’ duty was offered a lift by the accused Shankar alias Jaishankar at Adhiyur road junction on national highways. Against her will, he took her to a burial ground.
When she attempted to escape, he attacked her with a weapon and she fainted. Thereafter the accused raped and murdered her. He also took her ‘Thali” and other valuables. The petitioner lodged a complaint with the local police on the same day.
Subsequently, the case was transferred from the district court in Coimbatore to the district sessions and Mahila court in Tiruppur in 2012. However, till date, the accused was not produced regularly for trial and the case was still pending, she added.
P. Chandrasekaran, counsel for the petitioner, contended that it was more than 8 years since the heinous crime against the working woman constable has taken place. The trial has not been conducted by the police. They did not produce the accused before the sessions court to start with the criminal trial.
It was painful to note that the police have shown such a lethargic attitude in conducting the trial of their own colleague, who has been brutally raped and murdered for gain while she was on duty, Chandrasekaran added.
