Chinnasamy, the father of Kausalya was acquitted by the Madras High Court on Monday by a bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice M Nirmal Kumar in the Udumalai Sankar’s murder case. Sankar, the Dalit youth who married Gowsalya belonging to the Thevar caste was murdered in broad day light in Udumalaipet Bus Stand in 2016. The incident had sent shock waves across the state.

Sankar was left to die on the road while Kausalya sustained injuries. The incident was caught on a CCTV camera. Gowsalya’s father along with some of the family members was convicted by the district court and sentenced to death.

Of the 11 accused, Chinnswamy and 5 others were sentenced to death by the Tirupur District Sessions Court in December 2017. Her mother Annalakshmi, maternal uncle Pandi Thurai and a 16-year-old relative, were acquitted of all charges. Two other accused got lesser sentences.

The Madras High Court has now acquitted Kausalya’s father Chinnasamy while the death sentence of remaining 5 – Jagedesan, Manikandan, Selvakumar, Kalai Tamilvanan, Madan alias Michael has been commuted to life imprisonment of not less than 25 years.

“He was a father of a 19-year-old girl and he was angry with what had happened. At that point if he did not have people to execute the crime it may not have happened. He had reason to be angry,” the judge had said before giving the sentence.

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