Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has transferred the trial in two murders cases that took place in 2012 during the Thevar Jayanthi event, from Ramanathapuram Principal District and Sessions court to Madurai Principal District and Sessions court.
The court was hearing two separate petitions that sought the transfer of the trial in the cases from Ramanathapuram court to any other court. In 2012, three persons were killed in two separate incidents. A driver, M. Sivakumar, was killed by a mob at Pambuvizhundan village, and V. Veeramani and M. Malaikannan were killed by another mob near Ponnaiyapuram village in the district. They were on their way to Pasumpon for the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations.
Justice R. Hemalatha observed that the accused and witnesses were residing in and around Paramakudi and were travelling around 40 km to Ramanathapuram to attend the trial. The deceased belong to Sivaganga district and therefore the cases cannot be transferred to Sivaganga district where there would be a threat to the accused.
Ramanathapuram Principal District and Sessions Court, though was conscious of the powers to conduct a fair trial, did not protect the witnesses. The police also did not give protection to the witnesses as a result of which all the witnesses have turned hostile, the court observed.
The court transferred the trial in the two murder cases from Ramanathapuram court to Madurai Principal District and Sessions Court. The court directed the Madurai Principal District and Sessions court to complete the trial in six months.
