QChennai: Six Get Death Penalty for Killing Dalit Man & More

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

Sankar, a Dalit man, was murdered in March 2016 for marrying a Thevar woman, Kausalya. The court found her father (right) guilty.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

1. Six Get Death Sentence in TN 'Honour Killing' Case

The court has ordered a total compensation of Rs 11,95,000 from the eight convicts which needs to be paid in different proportions to Kausalya, Shankar’s father and the government.(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

In what is believed to be the first such conviction in a case of murder perpetrated due to caste-based discrimination, a trial court awarded death penalty to six persons, including the father of a caste Hindu girl, for conspiring and killing a Dalit youth who had fallen in love and married her.

On 13 March last year, an armed gang had indiscriminately hacked Shankar, a Dalit youth, and his wife Kausalya, belonging to the Thevar (OBC) community, outside a shopping complex in Udumalpet in Tirupur district, with long knives. While Shankar had succumbed to the injuries, Kousalya sustained serious injuries.

(Source: The Hindu)

2. Jallikattu Issue to Go to Constitution Bench

The advocate representing the state government argued that 80 percent of the population of Tamil Nadu supported jallikattu and the sport had strongholds in rural parts. (Photo Courtesy: AP)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said a Constitution Bench would examine if the people of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra can conserve jallikattu and bullock cart races as their cultural right and demand their protection under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution.

Article 29 (1) is a fundamental right guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution to protect the educational and cultural rights of citizens. Though commonly used to protect the interests of minorities, the Article mandates that “any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.

(Source: The Hindu)

3. Rajiv Gandhi Killing: Supreme Court Open to Reviewing Perarivalan Case

The multi-agency probe into the conspiracy behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi has not made much headway and is going on “endless”, cited the court.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the multi-agency probe into the "larger conspiracy" behind the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi has not made much headway and seems to be "endless".

This became one of the primary reasons for the court agreeing to hear convict AG Perarivalan's arguments to reopen his entire case on the basis of the fact that a former CBI officer has now come forward, after 26 years, to divulge in the court that certain portions of Perarivalan's confession showing his innocence under TADA was deliberately omitted to bolster the assassination case.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. Verizon to Retrench 993 Across India

UNITE issued a statement in which it put forth its demands and requested the Labour Commissioner to intervene.(Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia/ A. Aravind Arasu)

Verizon Data Services India (VDS India) will be retrenching 993 of its employees across India, including Chennai, said the Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE). The union’s convenor, Alagunambi Welkin, said, “We have come to know that VDS India has targeted to retrench 993 of its employees in band 7 to band 3 through forced resignation.”

UNITE also issued a statement in which it put forth its demands and requested the Labour Commissioner to intervene and stop the retrenchment and restore all employees with due benefits and service. The union claimed that the employees who reported to work at the Olympia Tech Park office (those who fall under the senior managers band) on Tuesday were escorted out of their cabins by security without any prior notification.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. Businessman Kills Four Family Members, Attempts Suicide

Suicide note said the cause of the suicide was demonetisation.(Photo: The Quint)

A textile businessman murdered four of his family members at his home and tried to kill himself but was rescued. He is battling for life at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

According to police, M Damodaran alias Prakash, 42, who runs a textile business on Elumalai Street in Krishna Nagar, Pammal, killed his wife Deepa, 36, two children Roshan, 8, and Meenakshi, 6, and his mother Saraswathi, 68. In a suicide note he left behind for his father-in-law, S Balakrishnan, he said that the demonetisation move by the Centre stunted his business and he fell into a debt trap.

(Source: The Hindu)

6. In Bid to Assuage Fisherfolk's Angst, CM Doubles Compensation to Rs 20 Lakh

Recently, the state government had enhanced the compensation amount from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for the families of deceased fishermen.(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

During his visit to one of the affected villages here on Tuesday, 12 days after Cyclone Ockhi struck, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami made a slew of announcements, including doubling the compensation to Rs 20 lakh for the families of the deceased, in an attempt to assuage the palpable angst in the affected villages over inefficiencies in rescue and rehabilitation measures.

Addressing a select group of affected families and clergymen from Thoothur and nearby villages from where at least 428 fishermen, who ventured into the sea, were yet to be traced, the chief minister announced that the compensation had been increased and brought on a par with the amount announced by the Kerala government to affected families there.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Morning Mist Hits Flight Operations

Flights from Mauritius and Muscat were diverted to Bengaluru. (Photo courtesy: The News Minute) 

Heavy mist in the city severely disrupted several flight operations and affected hundreds of passengers at the Chennai airport on Tuesday. From 4:30 am onwards, visibility began to dip but improved an hour later.

Flights to Madurai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Thoothukudi and Hyderabad were delayed by half an hour to two hours. Three flights were diverted as they could not land because of poor visibility. Flights from Mauritius and Muscat that were scheduled to land at 6:30 am and 7:10 am respectively were diverted to Bengaluru.

(Source: The Hindu)