Chennai: The Madras high court on Wednesday suspended the sentence of three years RI awarded to the then 19 law college students, who were involved in November 2008 group clash, in which three sustained grievous injuries on the premises of Dr. Ambedkar government law college here.
Justice P. Devadass suspended the sentence while admitting the appeals filed by Chithiraiselvan and 18 others, challenging the order of the lower court, convicting and sentencing them to undergo three years RI in the case.
The XVII additional sessions judge Komathinayagam had on January 28, 2016 found Bharathikannan and Arumugham, who were injured in the clash and filed the first complaint, guilty of offences under section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) IPC and sentenced them to undergo three years RI, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them.
The judge had also found Chithiraiselvan, Manimaran and 17 others guilty of offences under section 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 324 IPC and sentenced them to undergo three years RI, besides imposing a fine of Rs 15,000 each on them. The judge had acquitted advocate Rajinikanth and BSP state leader Amstrong and 20 others, the then law college students.
It may be recalled that a few Dalit students objected to the institution being referred to as just ‘government law college’ without the pre-fix ‘Dr Ambedkar’ in posters put up inside the campus by students from a caste Hindu community.
This led to a clash between two groups on November 12, 2008, in which three students sustained grievous injuries. Immediately, two students filed a complaint and thereafter 19 students from the other group filed a counter complaint.
