Murugesan and Kannagi, of Pudukkoorapettai near Virudhachalam, were poisoned to death. The reason: Kannagi, of the Vanniyar community, married Murugesan, a Dalit of the same village
Nearly 22 years ago, S. Murugesan, 25, a Dalit youth, and Kannagi, 24, a Vanniyar girl, fell in love with each other. Murugesan was an engineering graduate from Annamalai University, Chidambaram, and Kannagi studied B. Com at the university. They got acquainted during their college days. Both hailed from Pudukkoorapettai, near Virudhachalam, in Cuddalore district. He was working in Bengaluru.
Kannagi’s father Duraisamy was the president of the village panchayat and Murugesan’s father Samikannu was a farm worker, who lived on the outskirts of the village, far removed from where the Vanniyars and other caste Hindus lived. Apprehending stiff opposition to their marriage, Murugesan and Kannagi had their marriage solemnised at a temple at Manjakuppam in Cuddalore, on May 5, 2003. They also registered it. After marriage, they went home. On July 3, 2003, Duraiswamy learnt that his daughter was taken away by Murugesan while going to Chidambaram to attend the monthly seminars at the university.
‘Disrepute to family’
Duraisamy sent his son Marudhupandiyan to find out the whereabouts of his daughter. It was their idea to eliminate the couple for causing disrepute to their family and caste. Marudhupandiyan visited the house of Samikannu and asked Samikannu and his brother Ayyasamy to bring Murugesan to the village. Ayyasamy innocuously brought Murugesan from a neighbouring village. He was dragged to the village and beaten up by Duraisamy and his men in front of a temple, where about 100 people had gathered.
Velmurugan, younger brother of Murugesan, recalled, “My brother was beaten up severely. They tortured him: tying up his legs with a rope, they lowered him, upside down, into a deep bore-well near the temple, asking him to disclose the whereabouts of Kannagi.” Murugesan begged for his life and said Kannagi was in the custody of his relative Saroja at Moongilthuraipattu. Then, Duraisamy’s men brought Kannagi to the village in the early hours of July 8 from Saroja’s house. She was taken to a burial ground. Murugesan was also taken there by Duraisamy and his relatives. Duraisamy went over to Kannagi and spat on her face. Then, he handed pesticide in a tumbler to his son Maruthupandian, and they made Kannagi consume it.
Thereafter, Maruthupandian handed over poison to a relative of Murugesan and asked him to pour it into the mouth of Murugesan. As Murugesan resisted, they opened his mouth with a knife and poured the poison in. While Murugesan’s body was burnt near a stream, Kannagi’s body was taken to a crematorium meant for the caste Hindus.
Sent away by the police
On the day of occurrence, Chinnapillai, stepmother of Murugesan, went to the Virudhachalam police station, along with a few relatives. They were sent away by the police. The death of the couple was hushed up by the influential persons, but it spread by word of mouth. A Tamil weekly carried a report and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan raised the issue at a press conference.
Initially, Duraisamy and his group claimed that the couple committed suicide because of irreconcilable differences. However, Samikannu and other Dalits alleged that the Vanniyars had brought Murugesan and Kannagi, by deceit and force, to Pudukkooraipettai and murdered them. It took nine days for the Virudhachalam police to register a case, on the basis of voluntary confession by Duraisamy. Inspector Sellamuthu implicated three Dalits, including Samikannu, and arrested eight men: four Vanniyars and four Dalits, including Duraisamy, Maruthupandiyan, Samikannu, and Ayyasamy.
The police claimed that Duraisamy admitted that he felt ashamed of the love affair and asked Samikannu and Ayyasamy to bring the couple to the village. He gave poison to his daughter and Samikannu gave the left-over to his son. Both of them cremated the bodies.
The arrest of Samikannu and the three other Dalits caused a controversy since the Dalits believed that they were, in no way, involved in the murder. Thereafter, the Dalits approached advocate P. Rathnam who, though not a Dalit by birth, championed their causes. Mr. Rathnam and a team of lawyers visited the village and prepared a report. They fought for justice until the Supreme Court delivered its verdict last month.
Within 23 days of the occurrence, the Principal Sessions Judge, Cuddalore, granted bail to the arrested persons, reasoning that Duraisamy would be disqualified from the post of panchayat president if he was to be in judicial custody for more than 30 days. After being released on bail, Samikannu and the other Dalits approached the Madras High Court for a CBI investigation. Meanwhile, inspector Sellamuthu completed his probe and filed a charge sheet before the Judicial Magistrate, arraigning the four Vanniyars and four Dalits, who were arrested earlier, as the accused. Subsequently, the High Court ordered the CBI to conduct a fresh investigation. The CBI filed a charge sheet on October 14, 2005, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chengalpattu, against 15 accused, including Tamilmaran, sub-inspector, and Sellamuthu, inspector, of the Vriddhachalam police station.
Though the final report was filed by the CBI in 2005, the case was committed to the Court of Session only after more than four years. The trial court framed the charges and questioned the accused persons more than seven years after the crime. The reason for this inordinate delay was the filing of petitions for discharge of the accused persons, and for cancellation of the bail of some of the accused persons for intimidating the witnesses.
Death sentence awarded
On September 24, 2021, the Special Court for Exclusive Trial of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Cases, Cuddalore, acquitted Ayyasamy and Gunasekaran of all the charges. It awarded the death sentence to Marudhupandian and life imprisonment to Duraiswami and 11 others.
Following appeals, a Division Bench of the High Court delivered a common judgment on April 13, 2022, and commuted the death sentence imposed on Marudhipandian. However, it confirmed the life sentence imposed on nine of the convicts, including Duraisami, while acquitting Rangasamy and Chinnadurai. The court also set aside the life sentence imposed on Tamilmaran, a former sub-inspector, and sentenced him to two years in prison.
On April 28 this year, the Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prashant Kumar Mishra, dismissed the appeals from the convicts. All the appellants, who were on bail, were asked to surrender within two weeks to serve out their sentences.
Writing the judgment, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said, “This is a case of a dastardly murder of a young couple who were only in their early twenties… Both of them were administered poison in full view of a large number of villagers. The masterminds and the main perpetrators of this macabre act were none other than the father and the brother of the girl Kannagi. The reason behind the murder of this young couple was that Kannagi, belonging to the Vanniyar community, had dared to marry Murugesan, who was a Dalit from the same village. So, at the root of this crime is the deeply entrenched hierarchical caste system in India, and ironically, this most dishonourable act goes by the name of honour-killing!”
“A crime is an act against the state. But a wicked and odious crime, as the one we have just dealt with, is the ugly reality of our deeply entrenched caste structure. Honour-killing, as these are called, must get a strong measure of punishment,” the judges said.
₹5 lakh in compensation
The court also ordered the Tamil Nadu government to award ₹5 lakh in compensation to the parents of Murugesan, besides the amount awarded or ordered by the Court of Session and the High Court.
Courtesy : R SivaramanR. Sivaraman, The Hindu
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