HC upholds life term on 6 who tried to murder SC woman village chief

Madurai: Madras high court has upheld the conviction and life sentence imposed on six people who attempted to murder a woman panchayat president belonging to the scheduled caste community in Tirunelveli district in 2011.The court heard the criminal appeals preferred by Subbu alias Subramaniyan, Sultan Mydeen, Karthick, Jacob, Praveen Raj and Vijayaramamoorthy, challenging the conviction and life sentence imposed on them by the II additional district and sessions court (PCR) in Tirunelveli.The case of the prosecution is that P Krishnaveni, the then president of Thalaiyuthu village panchayat, requested for the construction of a public toilet for women. This was rejected by the authorities due to a lack of funds in the panchayat. Krishnaveni approached a private cement company, which agreed to construct the toilet.Since the proposed toilet was near Subramaniyan's property, he opposed it. Subsequently, Krishnaveni also passed a resolution for the construction of a public toilet on govt land. Subramaniyan, along with his accomplices, brutally attacked Krishnaveni when she was travelling in an auto from the panchayat office to her house on June 13, 2011. She suffered cut injuries on her face, shoulder and neck. She lost part of her right ear and two fingers. After months of treatment at the hospital, she recovered.The Thalaiyuthu police registered a case against nine people. They were booked for offences under various sections of IPC, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. Police filed the final report before the trial court. One of the accused, Natarajan, died during the trial. In 2024, the trial court convicted and imposed life imprisonment on Subramaniyan, Sultan Mydeen, Karthick, Jacob, Praveen Raj and Vijayaramamoorthy. The trial court acquitted Ramakrishnan and Santhanamari.A division bench of justice G K Ilanthiraiyan and justice R Poornima observed that the present case highlights the unfortunate state of affairs in our country, primarily for two reasons: firstly, because a woman was elected as the village panchayat president, and secondly, because the woman belongs to the SC arunthathiyar community. This case serves as a clear example of the illegal actions committed by members of the other community against individuals from the SC arunthathiyar community, who are part of a marginalised group.All the accused attacked her only because she belonged to the arunthathiyar community, which added more culpability to the act of the accused, and they were liable to be punished under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act. Therefore, the trial court rightly convicted the accused and sentenced them to the maximum punishment of life sentence, the judges observed, and dismissed the appeals.