Members of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes at the Sri Arthanariswara Temple in Tiruchengode. file
Madras High Court Justice MS Ramesh and Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on Thursday considered visiting the Tiruchengode Arthanariswarar temple, where V. Gokulraj, a Scheduled Caste youth who was a victim of caste-based murder, was last seen with his assailants on June 23. Prior to 2015, his body was found on the railway track the next day.
Hearing a batch of appeals filed by 10 life convicts, including Maviran Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai KS Yuvaraj, in the case, the judges said, since there was no eye-witness to the case, the prosecution had relied heavily on the ‘final’ scene principle’ to prove the guilt of the assailants by means of circumstantial evidence.
However, the topographical sketches of the temple produced before the court do not exactly show the number of entrances and exits available in the temple and the location of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras available there. Therefore, the judges felt that they may have to visit the temple to study the location, if necessary.
Justice Ramesh said, “The biggest drawback is that the topographical sketch does not show where the cameras are,” Justice Venkatesh said, adding, “We cannot write orders based on emotion. It can only be done on the basis of evidence.” Therefore, we have to satisfy ourselves regarding the link between this place and the crime.”
According to the prosecution, the assailants had seen the youth in the temple with a girl from his community. They interrogated them and then sent the girl to her home before abducting the youth on a railway track, where she was beheaded and the body was dumped between the tracks to make it look like a suicide.
Earlier in the day, the judges heard detailed arguments by advocate T. Lajapati Roy, representing the victim’s mother V. Chitra, who had filed separate appeals asking the court to enhance the death sentence on 10 convicts and five others Was also urged to convict. Those who were acquitted by the lower court in March last year.
Mr Roy made his submissions revolving around six aspects – motive, conspiracy, preparation, execution, conduct of the convicts before and after the murder and the evidence available on record – to argue that the assailants did not intend to torture the youth. After a brutal murder was committed and made it look like it was a suicide.
He argued that one of the purposes of Maveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai was to prevent theatrical love itself. That’s why the attackers killed the young man for loving a girl of his caste. They said that they forced the youth to write a suicide note and also recorded a video before killing him.
Stating that if it was a suicide then there could not be pre-mortem injuries on the body, the counsel said, adding that even the doctor who conducted the post-mortem had ruled out the possibility of suicide. “It is not a mere coincidence that all the attackers belong to the same caste,” he said and urged the court to award maximum punishment.
After completing their arguments, the judges decided to hear the second counsel on Friday.