Seven years on, 5 convicted for murder acquitted

A division bench comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice N Seshayee, aghast at the trial court order, said, “In the instant case the trial court has traced the socio economic as well as the communal background of the accused and has concluded that these accused have committed the crime solely because they belong to a particular community.” 

Noting that the case is a classic example as to how a court of law in this country should not pen down a judgment, the bench observed, “In our little experience, we have not come across this kind of judgment. Let this be the last ever judgment to be written on communal consideration.”

As per the prosecution, Kumar, Mari, Raja, Selvam and Palani on trespassing into a temple at Thirumangalam Kandigai Village in Kancheepuram district on January 2, 2010, had broken open the hundi and robbed the Rs 500 in it. On hearing the noise, one Subramani, who slept in front of the temple, raised an alarm. All the five accused attacked him with a wooden reaper and crowbar killing him on the spot. 

The Kancheepuram police registered a case and after trial the District Sessions Judge II, Kancheepuram, on July 31, 2015 convicted all the five on various charges, including murder, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. 

The division bench in its order also said, “Proof beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of an accused should be reached based on the evidence on the record. Any finding of guilt based on no evidence but on communal considerations is unconstitutional.”

“Assuming that during the primitive period, people belonging to the said community were indulging in thefts, it is ridiculous on the part of the trial court to conclude that in the instant case, these accused had committed murder and robbery because they belong to the said community. Judiciary cannot afford to decide the cases by tracing the criminal activities of the forefathers of the accused. No court of law can stigmatise a community as a whole,” the bench added.

The bench also directed the registry to circulate the copy of the judgment to all the lower court judges to impress upon them to abstain from issuing judgment based on communal and social background.