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Bus burning case: High Court confirms death sentence on three

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday confirmed the death sentence imposed on three persons belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who were convicted in the Dharmapuri bus burning case.

The court held that the offence was “ghastly, diabolical and gruesome.”

Ruling out lesser punishment for those who were awarded death penalty, a Division Bench comprising Justice D. Murugesan and Justice V. Periya Karuppiah, said: “Undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law…We have no reason to apply the yardstick that the accused should be given an opportunity for reformation. In this context, we also do not find any mitigating circumstances for imposing a lesser sentence.”

The case relates to the death of three girl students – Kokilavani, Gayathri and Hemalatha – of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, when the bus in which they were travelling along with 44 other students and two teachers was torched on February 2, 2000, following the conviction of the AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa in a criminal case.

On February 16, 2007, I Additional Sessions Court in Salem convicted 28 of the 31 accused, and awarded death sentence to three accused– Nedunchezhian, Ravindran and C. Muniappan. While acquitting two, the court awarded sentences ranging from two months to two years to 25 others. The sentences, which were to run consecutively, were modified by the High Court on Thursday. They would run concurrently now.

Convinced that this was a rarest of rare cases and the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, the Division Bench said: “By their (accused) act, they have burnt alive three girl students and had made an attempt to commit the murder of the remaining students inside the bus, including the teachers who had accompanied the students. From the evidence, the teachers and other students in the bus, numbering 44, had sustained injuries.”

Pointing out that though a teacher “begged” the culprits to allow the girls to alight from the bus, the Judges said that but for the alertness of others the consequences could have been disastrous and more deaths could have occurred.

“The intention of the accused to set the bus on fire, along with the inmates, was obvious, to murder all inmates and teach a lesson to somebody.”

“In our opinion, the three must face the punishment of death sentence and any lesser punishment would not meet the ends of justice.”

They then directed the Sessions Judge to secure the 25 others convicted for less serious offences and commit them to prison to undergo the sentences.

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