Tamil Nadu: Court sentences 27 to life imprisonment over killing of 3 Dalit men

Sivagangai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 5 : The Special Court for Exclusive Trial under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Act) here on Friday sentenced 27 people to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of three Dalits in the Kachanatham village in Tamil Nadu's Sivagangai district in 2018.
The special court convicted all the 27 accused on August 1 and the quantum of punishments was pronounced on Friday. Accordingly, Judge G Muthukumaran has sentenced all the accused to life term imprisonment.
Three men belonging to the scheduled caste community- Arumugam (65), Shanmuganathan (31) and Chandrasekar (34) from Kachanantham village near Tiruppachetty in the Sivagangai district were murdered brutally on the night of May 28, 2018.
They were hacked to death by members of a dominant community in a feud related to paying respects at a temple festival. Five more Dalit people sustained injuries in the attack. Among the injured, Thanasekaran (32) died one and half years after the incident.
In connection with this case, Police had filed the chargesheet against 33 people including Suman, Arunkumar, Chandrakumar, Agniraj and Rajesh from Avarangadu village. Four accused were minors while two of them died during the trial and one absconded.
In view of the court order today, heavy Police deployment was made outside the court premises as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident.