Sankar's mother welcomed the decision.
In a sensational case of honour killing, Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur Principal District and Sessions Court on Tuesday sentenced six persons to double death penalty for the daylight murder of 23-year-old dalit V Sankar who had married an upper caste woman. The murder took place in a busy marketplace and was caught on CCTV cameras.
Of the 11 accused, six including girl’s father Chinnasamy received death penalty, one person was awarded double life sentence, one person got at a five-year sentence and three including girl’s mother Annalakshmi were acquitted.
Judge Alamelu Natarajan pronounced the verdict on Tuesday. Sankar’s wife Kausalya was accompanying him when three bike-borne men hired by her parents attacked them in full public view near a busy bus stand in Udumalpet on March 13, 2016. Sankar died on way to the hospital, while Kausalya survived with head injuries. Kausalya's parents were against their marriage as Sankar was a dalit. Both Sankar and Kausalya studied in a private engineering college in Pollachi when they got married against her parent’s wish. Kausalya, hailing from Dindigul, belongs to politically powerful Thevar caste.
Kausalya who lives with Sankar’s family welcomed the court’s verdict. “Though I am against death penalty, the severest punishment given in this case would create fear among perpetrators of such heinous crimes. Our wait for the verdict did not go waste as the verdict given in my case was first of its kind in the country. The punishment like the double death penalty and double life sentence were given to prevent the convicts from escaping through the holes in the law. Hence I welcome the verdict as a whole,” she said, adding that however, she would appeal against the acquittal of her mother Annalakshmi, maternal uncle Pandithurai and her another relative in the Madras High Court.
“If other convicts appeals against the verdict, I will fight them in the court,” she said, adding that she would continue her fight for justice in the court as well as in the public domain.
“Justice for Sankar’s murder does not end with this court’s verdict alone. Only the enactment of a law against caste-based honour killing is the real justice for the murder of Sankar. I hope this verdict would help achieve this goal,” she said, sought police protection for Sankar’s family and herself following the acquittal of the three accused and tension prevailed in the court premises after the verdict.
Special Public Prosecutor U Sankaranarayanan said that judge wanted the punishment given in the case to act as a deterrent in future against such honour killings. The court also ordered a total compensation of Rs 11.95 lakh to the girl and Shankar’s family, he said.
After the investigation, the police arrested 11 persons including Kausalya’s parents in connection with the case and registered cases under seven different sections in the Indian Penal Code and under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police had filed a 1500 page charge sheet against the accused.
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 "Sankar and Kaushalya")
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