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18 years after hate crime, 1 gets death; 12 sentenced for life in Tamil Nadu
The hate crime dates back to May of 2003, when a 25-year-old Dalit man, S Murugesan, and D Kannagi (22) – of the locally powerful Vanniyar community – eloped and secretly got married in a sub-registrar’s office in Vriddhachalam, Cuddalore. Fearing for their safety, the couple did not stay together but found refuge separately in their relatives’ houses in the district.
Eighteen years after the brutal torture and immolation of an inter-caste couple in Tamil Nadu, a Cuddalore court on Friday sentenced to death the main accused and awarded life imprisonment to 12 others.
The hate crime triggered widespread outrage in the country, and for long, became an example of the stringent caste barriers in India and police inaction in dealing with such crimes.
Out of the total 15 accused named in the case, justice S Uthamaraja of the Cuddalore district special court found 13 guilty – 11 family members and 2 local policemen -- under the SC/ST Act, and acquitted two others.
The court in its order said that there is nothing honourable in ‘honour killings’. “In our opinion honor killings, for whatever reasons come within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving punishment. It is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices, which are a slur on our nation. This is necessary as a deterrant for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour. All person who are planning to perpetrate ‘honour’ killing should know that the gallows await them.”
The case dates back to May of 2003, when a 25-year-old Dalit man, S Murugesan, and D Kannagi (22) – of the locally powerful Vanniyar community – eloped and secretly got married in a sub-registrar’s office in Vriddhachalam, Cuddalore. Fearing for their safety, the couple did not stay together but found refuge separately in their relatives’ houses in the district.
According to the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2009, their families tracked them down in July. Murugesan was first found by Kannagi’s family members, hung upside down and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of Kannagi. The convicts then took the couple to a cremation ground in the village, forcibly fed them poison – including pouring it into their ears and nose – and set them ablaze in the presence of villagers.
“The judge said that this was a caste-based and barbaric killing,” said G Sugumaran, secretary of the Federation for People’s Rights – an NGO which helped Murugesan’s family with the case proceedings such as to file a case in court seeking a CBI probe, seeking CBI’s chargesheet, which was in English to be translated to Tamil and challenging the arrest of Ayyasamy and Gunaseakaran who Murugesan’s family members-- the court acquitted on Friday.
Amidst anger over the case, there were also allegations that Vriddhachalam police failed to take action despite being approached by Murugesan’s father Samikannu and younger brother Velmurugan after the killings.
Activists rallied for justice and filed a public interest litigation (PIL) with the Madras high court that the local police were trying to protect the upper caste accused.
In 2004, the high court ordered the CBI to take over the case and the agency filed a 665-page charge sheet five years later, naming 15 accused on the basis of an investigation involving 81 witnesses. Trial for the case began in the special SC/ST court in Cuddalore in 2017, and proceedings were completed this April.
On Friday, Kannagi’s brother D Maruthupandian (49) was sentenced to death by the court, which also asked him to pay a penalty of ₹4.56 lakh. He was charged for his role as the main conspirator of the crime.
Those given life sentences are Kannagi’s father C Duraisamy (68), a second brother D Rangasamy (45) and other relatives of Kannagi -- K Kandavelu (54), K Jothi (53), R Mani (66), R Dhanavel (49), V Anjapuli (47), K Ramdoss (52), N Chinnadurai (50). All of them were also asked to pay a penalty of ₹4.15 lakh each.
Former deputy superintendent of police Chellamuthu and inspector Tamilmaran of the local police station were also awarded life sentences, along with a penalty of ₹1.15 lakh each for foisting false cases 3 (2) (1) under SC/ST Act against Samikannu and other relatives.Ayyasamy and Gunaseakaran, Murugesasn’s relatives, were acquitted.
Murugesan’s father Samikannu broke down after the verdict was announced on Friday. “They (police) hit me...” he told reporters in Cuddalore.
