CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras HC on Tuesday reversed the order of a trial court in Villupuram and sentenced 21 people to life imprisonment for murdering a man in 2013 due to enmity. Passing the orders, a division bench of Justices P Velmurugan and M Jothiraman also abated the charges against two others as they died during pendency of the appeal.
The bench, however, kept the sentence in suspension for three months to enable the convicts to go on appeal.
The matter pertains to an appeal moved by Amutha, wife of Baskar, who was murdered by a gang of 23 people over enmity between the deceased and the first accused, Krishnaveni. The gang fatally attacked Baskar with weapons during the intervening night of May 29 and May 30, 2013, in front of his house at Katrambakkam under the Kiliyanur police station limits.
Baskar and his wife were returning from a temple ceremony when the gang assaulted him.
The first additional sessions court in Tindivanam acquitted all the accused in 2017 stating that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. Challenging this order, Amutha moved the high court in 2019.
“The trial court has discarded reliable evidence wholly on untenable grounds, placing undue emphasis on minor discrepancies and trivial contradictions which do not go to the root of the prosecution case. Such an approach amounts to a clear mis-appreciation of evidence and renders the acquittal perverse,” the bench said.