Shocked Kaushalya vows to continue battle

Shocked Kaushalya vows to continue battle

Subburaj.A@timesgroup.com

23.06.2020

Kaushalya, the widow of dalit youth V Shankar who was murdered by a gang in 2016, has expressed shock and disappointment over the Madras high court verdict in the case. The court had acquitted her father B Chinnasamy and set aside the death sentence of other convicts imposed by a trial court in 2017.

Expressing disappointment over acquittal of her father, Kaushalya who has since remarried, said she would continue her legal fight till her parents are punished. Her mother Annalakshmi, who was also cited as an accused, was acquitted by the trial court. The government's appeal against the release of Annalakshmi was also set aside by the high court. "Chinnasamy and Annalakshmi should be punished. Only if they are punished, it would render justice to the death of Shankar. I will continue to fight till Shankar gets justice," Kausalya said.

Kaushalya, a Thevar from Kuppampalayam in Dindigul district, had married Shankar, a dalit from Komaralingam village near Udumalpet in 2015, against the wishes of her parents. Despite opposition from her parents, she started living in Shankar’s house. On March 13, 2016, when the couple visited Udumalpet, a gang hacked Shankar to death in broad daylight near the bus stand. Kaushalya was also attacked with sickles, but she survived with severe injuries.

Police arrested her father Chinnasamy, her mother Annalakshmi, her maternal uncle Pandidurai along with eight others.

The principal district judge court in Tirupur sentenced Chinnasamy and five others to death, one of the accused to double life term and another to five years imprisonment. Annalakshmi, Pandidurai and one more accused were acquitted. “I would like to ask who was responsible for the murder of Shankar. Are those who have been sentenced to life are behind the murder or those who have been acquitted? It was the acquitted people who were directly linked to the murder,” she alleged.

Kaushalya said that if her parents were not against Shankar or her marriage, this case would not have surfaced at all, since Shankar would be alive now. "My parents should be punished for the murder of Shankar,’’ she said adding that she would intensify the legal fight now. Kaushalya got married to a parai artist in 2018 and now lives in Nilgiris district.

LET FREE: Kaushalya's parents Annalakshmi and Chinnasamy