Sivaganga: A Special Court for trial of cases under SCT (POA) Act has awarded life sentence to 27 people for killing 4 SC men at Kachanatham village in the district over a dispute in 2018 on not providing temple honour to caste Hindus. Totally, 33 people were involved in the crime and 29 of them were adults and 4 juveniles in conflict with law. The final case was filed before the fast track court against the 29.
Proceedings against the juveniles were pending before the Juvenile Justice Board, Sivaganga. Two had died during the trial which commenced on November 6, 2019. The trial concluded on July 7 this year. Today, the Special Court found the 27 guilty under various sections of the IPC and SC/ST Act.
A dispute over not providing temple offerings called 'kalanji' (bag of coconut, flowers and fruits) at the festival of Karuppanasami temple at Katchanatham village to the caste Hindus in the village led to violence. Three members from the SC community were killed and another succumbed later. The houses of several SCs were ransacked during the violence in May 2018.
While Shanmuganathan, Arumugam and Chandrasekar, who were hacked, died on the way to hospital, the fourth Dhanasekaran died during the course of treatment. B Maheswaran, the complainant in the case, is one among the injured witness who deposed.
Sessions Judge G Muthukumaran today imposed 3 life sentences, 3 three-year terms, 3 five-year terms, 1 seven-year term and a fine on the 27 men and said the sentences would run concurrently. He said the court took into account several factors such as advanced age of some of the accused, gender, age of their school-going children while awarding the sentences.
The brutal assault could not be viewed lightly. Without taking steps to reform the accused and bring them into the mainstream, taking 27 lives by hanging would be viewed as more horrible in a civilised society, the judge observed.
Heard both the sides... it was submitted that the accused developed ill-motive for not granting kalanji and they conspired and killed, the order said. Dhanasekaran was among the 5 who were injured. Eight others of the same SC community were targeted. The victims were all unarmed. The court imposed a penalty of Rs 13.28 lakh to be equally distributed among the legal heirs of the deceased. (PTI)
