Udumalpet honour killing: SC to consider plea against acquittal of Kausalya's parents

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to consider a plea against the acquittal of a man, his wife and bother-in-law in the sensational Udumalpet honour killing case, where Shankar, a Dalit boy was killed for marrying his daughter Kausalya belonging to Thevar caste, on March 13, 2016.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari issued notice to Kausalya's father B Chinnaswamy, mother Annalakshmi and maternal uncle Pandidurai.

The court said the case needs to be examined. Additional Advocate General Balaji Srinivasan, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government sought a direction for expediting the case.

Kausalya, who is a prosecution witness, filed a special leave petition against the Madras HC's order of June 22, 2020, overturning acquittal of her father and two others after finding no evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

The HC had commuted the death penalty of five hired killers to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 25 years in jail without remission.

On Monday, advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan sought a direction to prevent the accused from travelling abroad. The court, however, refused to pass any order.

Shankar, a Dalit from Kumaralingam near Udumalpet, had married Kausalya, against their parents' wishes after falling in love while study at an engineering college in Pollachi.

On March 13, 2016, Shankar was hacked to death and Kausalya suffered injuries in the attack.

The incident, caught on CCTV cameras, triggered a massive outrage. On December 12, 2017, the trial court awarded death penalty to six persons, including the father of the girl.