MADURAI: Observing that extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary remedy, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently ordered the Special Court for SC/ST (POA) Act cases in Thoothukudi to conduct the trial of two connected murder cases in the Palayamkottai Central Prison premises, to ensure safety of the witnesses and smooth conduct of the trial.
Justice KK Ramakrishnan, who passed the order, observed, “The direction to conduct the trial in jail is not a new one and the Supreme Court and various High Courts justify trials in jail premises considering various factors like life threat to the accused, witnesses and the hostile atmosphere.” He further directed the trial judge to complete the trial within two months, by conducting it on a day-to-day basis, and to make arrangements to allot any portion of the jail premises to conduct the trail with ‘observa’ glass partition, which is a system specifically designed to provide privacy to the observers, namely witnesses.
The cases pertains to the murder of two brothers--PK Shivakumar and PK Muthukumar-- who were practising advocates in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli. The above order was passed on an appeal filed by Sutherson, who is one of the accused in Muthukumar’s murder case, challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the special court.
According to the prosecution, Shivakumar was murdered in front of the court premises in Thoothukudi on August 21, 2019. In connection with this incident, a case was registered against one Rajesh and a few others. Sutherson, who was Rajesh’s friend, is said to have extended financial help to Rajesh in filing bail applications. However, Shivakumar’s brothers Muthukumar and Ramkumar, who were eyewitnesses to the murder , had been opposing the bail applications, preventing the accused from getting bail. Irked by this, the accused conspired together and murdered Muthukumar in broad daylight on February 22.
CPM seeks nod for campaign
Madras High Court on Thursday directed the DGP to file a reply to a petition moved by CPM State Secretary K Balakrishnan seeking permission to campaign from October 21 to 30 on the occasion of the party’s formation day. Justice G Jayachandran directed the DGP file the reply on Friday. Senior advocate NGR Prasad, representing the petitioner, said that an application was given to the police for granting permission for the campaign and that the petitioner is wary that permission may be denied citing denial of permission to the RSS rally. He added that CPM had conducted similar event in the past without any issues or causing inconvenience to the public.
‘Consider spl buses for thevar jayanthi’
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed Ramanathapuram collector to consider providing special buses to Theni, Dindigul, Pudukkottai and Thanjavur during Thevar Jayanthi celebrations between October 28 and 30. A Bench of justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel gave the direction while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by M Sangili of Madurai seeking direction to permit hired vehicles to enter the Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar memorial in Ramanathapuram during the said celebrations. During the hearing, the government counsel submitted that hired vehicles were prohibited during the celebrations since 2017.