Upset over refusal Madras High Court Chief Justice resigns

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Chennai, June 22 (IANS) Commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment for five convicts, the Madras High Court on Monday set free Chinnasamy, the main convict, who had also been sentenced to death in the Udumalpet Shankar honour killing case. A Division Bench comprising Justice M. Sathyanarayanan and Justice M. Nirmal Kumar also dismissed the appeal by the state police against the acquittal of three persons by a lower court. The Bench ordered the five convicts sentenced for life to undergo a jail term of not less than 25 years. In 2016, V. Shankar, who had married C. Kausalya, was killed by a gang in Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu. The gang also injured Kausalya in the attack. It was alleged the parents of Kausalya -- Chinnasamy, Annalakshmi -- were against the marriage. P. Pandidurai, the uncle of Kausalya at the behest of Chinnasamy and Annalakshmi had hired a gang to kill Shankar. The gang killed Shankar in broad daylight in a public place and Kausalya too got injured in the attack as she tried to save her husband. The Principal District and Sessions Court in Tiruppur had convicted and sentenced to death six accused persons -- Chinnasamy, P. Jagadeesan, P. Selvakumar, M. Manikandan, M. Mathan alias Michael and P. Kalaithamilvaanan. The court also sentenced two other accused, K. Dhanraj for life and Manikandan to a five year jail term, while acquitting Annalakshmi, Pandidurai and Prasanna. The convicts had filed an appeal agai.

New Delhi: Upset over refusal to reconsider transfer by Supreme Court, Madras High Court Chief Justice Vijaya K Tahilramani has resigned today.

Chief Justice Tahilramani has tendered her resignation to President Ram Nath Kovind along with sending a copy to CJI Ranjan Gogoi last night.

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice Gogoi had recommended her transfer to Meghalaya High Court on August 28 after her elevation as Madras High Court’s Chief Justice.

She had then made a representation requesting the collegium to reconsider the proposal and protested against the collegium’s decision to transfer her.

The apex court collegium — comprising justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, Arun Mishra and R F Nariman — had recommended that Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Justice A K Mittal be transferred to the Madras High Court.

Justice Tahilramani was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court on June 26, 2001. While holding office as the acting chief justice of the Bombay High Court, she had in May 2017 upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of 11 people in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case, which was transferred to Maharashtra from Gujarat by the top court. Justice Tahilramani was to retire on October 2, 2020.