In a rare judgement, the Madras High Court (HC), on July 24, granted protection to all the witnesses of the Chennai caste killing case. The directions were issued by the HC while hearing a plea to cancel the bail of all the five accused in the case. Earlier in June, the Chengalpattu District Court had granted bail to all five of the accused who were accused of killing Praveen, a 22-year-old Dalit man. The victim was killed for marrying a woman from the Yadava caste.
The Madras HC refused to cancel the bail orders of the accused and instead offered protection to the witnesses in the case, considering the political influence of the accused.
Praveen, who belonged to the Paraiyar caste, was killed on February 24 for marrying Sharmila, from the Yadava community (classified as Other Backward Class). Sharmila’s brother Dinesh (24) and four others— Sriram (18), Vishnu (23), Jothi Lingam (25), and Stephen Kumar (24), were accused of murdering Praveen. Within weeks after Praveen’s murder, Sharmila died by suicide.
After the victim’s counsel argued that accused number 1 (A1) Dinesh is highly influential and that he may tamper the witnesses until protection is provided, the court said, “Considering the submission made by the learned counsel for the appellant, this Court directs the law enforcing agency to provide necessary protection to the appellant/defacto complainant's family and to the witnesses under the Witness Protection Scheme. If the accused/ private respondents intend to tamper the witnesses, liberty is granted to the appellant as well as the witnesses to file appropriate complaint before the law enforcing agency in the manner known to law.”
It may be noted that Dinesh’s father Durai Kumar was the Deputy Organising Secretary of the DMK’s construction wing in Sholinganallur, Chennai. Senior advocate Bhavani B Mohan had previously told the media that Durai Kumar has the backing of several influential party cadres. He alleged public prosecutors and the Pallikaranai police were favouring Durai Kumar’s son Dinesh.