"Accused were under the influence of demon called caste": Madras High Court on murder of Dalit youth Gokulraj

The Madras High Court Friday said that the ten persons involved in the murder of Dalit youth Gokulraj in 2015 were driven by caste hatred towards him.

A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N Anand Venkatesh said that the case brought to the Court's attention the ills of the caste system, bigotry, inhuman treatment of persons belonging to the marginalised sections, and also the now familiar "scourge" of witnesses deliberately turning hostile to manipulate a case.

"The accused in this case were under the influence of a demon called caste," the Court said.

The bench also cautioned litigants against manipulating the process of law, and the trial courts against permitting witnesses to manipulate the system.

"This is a case which brings out the dark side of human behaviour. It focuses our attention to the ugly facets of our society; the caste system, bigotry, inhuman treatment of persons belonging to the marginalised section, et al. En-route, this Court is confronted with the now familiar scourge of witnesses conveniently turning hostile in a deliberate bid to derail and deflect the course of justice," the Court said.

The Court lamented that cases such as this are textbook examples of how the criminal justice system can be easily manipulated and won over by witnesses who suborn at the drop of a hat.

"This has virtually become the norm in high profile cases with the added pressure of the press and social media, the technical challenges posed in proving a large body of electronic evidence. These factors undoubtedly cast an additional burden on the judges who are tasked with the duty of deciding this case. Despite such pressures, the judges must rise to meet these challenges and ultimately render justice within the parameters of the law," it said.

Gokulraj, an engineering student, went missing on June 23, 2015. He was last seen along with a woman friend Swathi at the Arthanareeswarar temple at Tiruchengode. Later, his headless body was found by the railway track in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district.

The case was initially considered a suspicious death but was later changed to murder after the postmortem showed that the victim was strangled.

It was later proved in court that Gokulraj had been killed as he was a Dalit, and the woman he was allegedly in a relationship with, belonged to the dominant 'Gounder' community.

In March last year, a Special Sessions Court in Madurai had sentenced ten persons, including the prime accused V Yuvaraj, leader of a local dominant caste group, Maaveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai, to life imprisonment in the case.

On December 1 last year, the High Court bench had initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Swathi after she refused to identify herself in a CCTV footage in which she could be seen walking with Gokulraj hours before his death.

In their appeal, the convicts had claimed the police had framed them in the case. They had pointed out that there was no eye witness to the crime and that the entire case was based on circumstantial evidence.

On the other hand, the prosecution argued there was adequate evidence against the convicts and that the case was not one of honour killing, but it was a "caste bigotry murder." 

The Court after considering the arguments concluded that the prosecution successfully was able to establish the chain of events and proved that this was a case of "honour killing," where a man was killed because the convicts suspected him to have been in love with a woman belonging to their dominant caste.

The Court also said that the prime accused, Yuvaraj, leader of a local dominant caste group, 'Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai,' had tried to influence the media and create an impression that he was being framed in a false case.

The Court, however, said it had remain unaffected by media reports and public perception around the case.

It, therefore, upheld the conviction and sentence handed down by the trial court.

Pertinently, the bench also called for the need to follow a standard procedure in all cases where the prosecution cases hinge upon CCTV footage and similar electronic evidence.

It, therefore, urged the Central government to come up with an appropriate legislation regulating electronic evidence.

"It is high time that the Legislature has a complete re-look and comes up with an appropriate legislation with respect to electronic evidence abreast with the prevailing scenario and make the procedure simpler for letting in electronic evidence during trial," the High Court said.

Senior Counsel Gopalakrishna Lakshmana Raju, and advocates A Ramesh and Ashok Kumar appeared for the convicts.

Senior Counsel T Lajapathi Roy appeared for Gokulraj's mother Chithra.

Additional Public Prosecutor A Thiruvadi Kumar and former special public prosecutor Bhavani B Mohan appeared for the State.

[Read Judgment]