Ramanathapuram
The Principal District Court has convicted seven people, including a 26-year-old man, his parents and two siblings and awarded four to ten years imprisonment holding them guilty of breaking inter-caste marriage and assaulting the newly-married Dalit woman.
Principal District Judge A Kayalvizhi awarded 10 years imprisonment to S. Saravanan, 26, who had married and ditched the Dalit woman J. Rekha, 25 of Chinna Udappankulam near Kamuthi and four years imprisonment to his parents, siblings and two others.
The judge held them guilty under sections 147 (rioting), 417 (cheating), 450 (trespass), 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code and under section 3 (1) (XII) of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989. Saravanan was also held guilty under section 376 (ii) (rape).
The judge also imposed them total fine of ₹1.24 lakh and directed the authorities to give ₹ 1.20 lakh to Rekha in the case and the remaining amount towards the cost.
Those convicted included Saravanan’s parents Sonaimuthu, 52, Jayalakshmi, 45, his siblings Karthik, 28 and Kavitha, 22, his relative Ayyanar, 20 and village leader Pandi, 45.
The prosecution case was that Sarvanan, belonging to a dominant community, fell in love with Rekha and when his family opposed to the marriage, they eloped and got married in Tirupur.
After Rekha’s father lodged a complaint, the all women police in Kamuthi registered an FIR in March, 2015, after which, the couple returned to the village.
As they were returning in a car at Kottaimedu near Kamuthi, Saravanan’s family members and other accused waylaid and assaulted Rekha. After abusing her mentioning the caste, they removed the ‘thali’ from her neck and took home Saravanan.
Later Sarvanan refused to live with Rekha, leaving her in lurch, the prosecution said.
