MADURAI: Twenty-seven people were sentenced to life in prison on Friday by a court in TN’s Sivaganga district for the murder of three Dalits in a clash at a temple party in Kachanatham village on May 28, 2018.
Special Court Judge G Muthukumaran said that although the crime was heinous, killing another 27 lives by hanging would be considered more horrifying by civil society. Spending life in prison would be punishment enough for the accused, many of whom were young, the judge said.
Thirty-three people were charged in the case. Four of them were minors, one defendant died and another fled. Three of the 27 convicted are women.
The judge ordered the government to distribute the Rs 13.3 lakh to be made by the accused as fines among the relatives of the three killed – K Arumugam, A Shanmuganathan And V Chandrasekaran.
“Not enough fine, give further relief to the relatives of the deceased”
Finding that the amount of the fine would not be sufficient compensation, the judge also ordered the district legal service authority to grant additional relief to the families of those killed.
During the trial, the victims’ families demanded maximum punishment for the accused, saying they broke into their homes and killed the three men and injured many others.
At the request of the Sivaganga police superintendent, the 27 appeared before the court by videoconference from the prison in order not to precipitate a situation of public order.
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