Tirupur: A Tirupur court on Tuesday convicted all the eleven accused in the murder of a Dalit youth. Six people, including the deceased youth Shankar's father-in-law, were sentenced to death.
Principal District Judge Alamelu Nataraj convicted all the accused, including Kausalya's father Chinnaswamy, maternal uncle and another relative for murdering Shankar in Udumalaipet, Tirupur district in March 2016. Kausalya's mother Annalakshmi was found not guilty.
Kausalya and Shankar were brutally attacked by three people on March 13, 2016, in Udumalpet. While Kausalya's husband Shankar bled to death on his way to the hospital, Kausalya miraculously survived.
Shankar had fallen in love with Kausalya during their engineering studies in Pollachi. They tied the knot against the wishes of Kausalya's parents. Her parents opposed the marriage as Shankar was a Dalit and Kausalya belonged to the Thevar community.
Kausalya had blamed her family for Shankar's murder. She had claimed that before the incident, she was kidnapped by her family but managed to escape.
"I have been waiting for justice for the last 21 months after Shankar bled to death. I welcome the verdict. In Shankar's murder, three accused have been let free and I will challenge the high court against their acquittal and fight the case till they are found guilty in this case. If the parents challenge the judgment, I will take the legal route and fight the case. I believe in jurisdiction. This judgement will set an example for other honour killings in the state," she said.
Three of them have been acquitted and Shankar's family and I will be threatened. We seek protection from the court for Shankar's family and myself.
Following this, the family also told Shankar they would pay him Rs 10 lakh and that they should get separated.
The Udumalpet Police had registered a case and arrested Kausalya’s father Chinnasamy, mother Annalakshmi, uncle Pandithurai and a few others.
Kausalya's father surrendered before the sessions court a day after the cold-blooded murder claiming that he was responsible for the murder. Several eyewitnesses were summoned with regard to this incident but many did not reveal details and the case prolonged.
The trial had been on before the Tirupur district and sessions court for the past 20 months. The final arguments were over on October 13.
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