Police station attack convicts get HC relief

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has reduced the jail term of six convicted accused in the Andimadam police station attack and looting case from 10 years to seven years.

The six convicts are Murugan, Sundaramoorthy, Sekar alias Chinnathambi, Nagarajan, Ponnivalavan alias Murugan, and Jeyachandran accused of attacking and looting the Andimadam police station in the year 1997. They appealed in the Madras High Court seeking to set aside the conviction and sentence imposed against them.

Justice G Jayachandran of the high court reduced the jail term considering the period of incarceration of the appellants pending trial, even though the High Court has not found any error in the sentence of the trial court.

From the evidence, this court is able to arrive at the conclusion that the accused persons had no intention to cause death or harm to any person. Their intention was to loot arms from the police station and to record their intention by pasting the posters and distributing the pamphlets, said the Justice.

The major offense committed by these appellants will be dacoity, unlawful assembly armed with weapons preventing public servants from discharging the duty putting them under fear of death and wrongful confinement. Therefore, the jail term is reduced from 10 years to 7 years, ruled the Justice.