Kumbakonam school fire: Convicts to walk free
TNN | Updated: Aug 11, 2017, 07:43 AM IST
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: It is freedom for all the convicts in the July 16, 2004 Kumbakonam school fire accident, in which 94 childrenwere charred to death.
On Thursday, the Madras high court acquitted seven people who had been sentenced to serve varying degrees of jail terms, and then ordered the release of the prime accused founder of Sri Krishna Matriculation School Pulavar Palaniswamy saying the sentence he had already served during the investigation, trial and post-conviction would be sufficient. A sum of Rs 51.65 lakh fine imposed on him was reduced to Rs 1.16 lakh by the HC.
In the case of school cook Vasanthi, who had appealed against her five-year jail term, the sentence was modified as one of period already undergone. On July 30, 2014, the Thanjavur district and sessions court acquitted 11 of the 21 accused, and convicted 10, including Palaniswamy and his wife Saraswathi. Charges against Saraswathi abated, as she died during the pendency of the case.
The verdict, running to more than 250 pages, was delivered by a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice VM Velumani on Thursday.
CHENNAI: It is freedom for all the convicts in the July 16, 2004 Kumbakonam school fire accident, in which 94 childrenwere charred to death.
On Thursday, the Madras high court acquitted seven people who had been sentenced to serve varying degrees of jail terms, and then ordered the release of the prime accused founder of Sri Krishna Matriculation School Pulavar Palaniswamy saying the sentence he had already served during the investigation, trial and post-conviction would be sufficient. A sum of Rs 51.65 lakh fine imposed on him was reduced to Rs 1.16 lakh by the HC.
In the case of school cook Vasanthi, who had appealed against her five-year jail term, the sentence was modified as one of period already undergone. On July 30, 2014, the Thanjavur district and sessions court acquitted 11 of the 21 accused, and convicted 10, including Palaniswamy and his wife Saraswathi. Charges against Saraswathi abated, as she died during the pendency of the case.
The verdict, running to more than 250 pages, was delivered by a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice VM Velumani on Thursday.
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