MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday confirmed the death penalty imposed on R Selvaraj of Tirunelveli for murdering a witness who testified against him.
A bench of justices P Velmurugan and L Victoria Gowri observed that the purpose for which the witness was murdered, that too on the date of hearing prior to going to the court for giving evidence, shocked the conscience of the court. It should be viewed as an attack against the justice dispensation system as it is only through witnesses can the court know the truth, they added.
“If such acts of the accused are not punished by giving major punishment of death sentence, in future, in every case, no one will come forward to stand as witness and the very object and purpose of Witness Protection Scheme 2018 will be defeated,” the judges said and confirmed the decision of the trial court that the above case falls under the category of ‘rarest of rare case’ warranting death penalty. They dismissed the appeals filed by the remaining four convicts against the life sentence imposed on them.
According to prosecution, there was political rivalry and enmity between the convicts and the deceased R Vaikundam’s group. It was alleged that the convicts had attempted to murder A Perumal of Vaikundam’s group in 2016 and Vaikundam had lodged a complaint in this regard and despite threats, had testified against the convicts.
On March 10, 2022, Selvaraj and the other accused murdered Vaikundam to prevent him from going to the court. In March 2025, II Additional Sessions Judge, Tirunelveli found Selvaraj and four others guilty of the murder. Since Selvaraj had commanded the other accused to commit the murder, he was given death penalty.