TIRUPUR: In a landmark ruling, a Special Court here trying cases under the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC & ST) Act, convicted and sentenced six persons to double death penalty in a sensational case of suspected ‘honour killing’ of a Dalit youth Shankar who had married an upper-caste girl, in full public view in Udumalpet in March last year. The sentenced persons included the father of the girl.
The prosecution case was that the Engineering graduate Shankar, 22, from Udumalpet had married his classmate Kausalya, belonging to upper caste in 2016, against stiff opposition from the girl's family members.
On March 13, 2016, the couple was brutally hacked by a gang near Udumalpet bus stand, the prosecution said. Shankar had succumbed to his injuries at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, while Kausalya recovered from her injuries.
The Udumalpet police had registered a case and had launched investigations. Meanwhile, Kausalya's father P. Chinnasamy, 41, from Thirunagar in Palani, his wife C. Annalakshmi, 36, and a relative Prasannakumar, 20, surrendered in court.
Subsequently, special police teams had arrested Kausalya's uncle P. Pandithurai, 50, P. Jegathesan, 32, M Manikandan, 26, P Selvakumar, 26, Thamilvanan alias Tamil, Madhan alias Michael, 26, Dhanraj alias Stephen Dhanraj, 24, and M Manikandan, in connection with the case, which grabbed national media headlines since a video showing the savage attack on Shankar and Kausalya by some motorcycle-borne miscreants on a bright sunny day on a busy road was telecast by some TV channels. The prosecution argued that it was a case of 'honour killing'.
While the hearing of the case was at the Special Court of the Tirupur Principal district and sessions judge, on conclusion of the trial, Judge Alamelu Natarajan, delivering her judgment today, convicted eight of the 11 accused in the case.
The Judge awarded the double death penalty to the girl's father Chinnasamy, Jegathesan, Manikandan, Selvakumar, Thamilvanan and Michel, while Dhanraj was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Another accused Manikandan got a five-year jail term for helping the murderers. Chinnasamy was also indicted for being the brain behind the plan to finish off the Dalit youth who had married his daughter.
However, Annalakshmi, the mother of the girl, Pandithurai and Prasannakumar were acquitted in the case for want of sufficient evidence against them. The Judge in all also slammed a fine amount of '11.95 lakh on all those convicted in the case ordered that the amount should go to the widowed Kausalya and Shankar's father Velusamy as compensation.
