Interim stay on Ariyalur girl’s gang-rape and murder case

The Madras High Court ordered an interim stay that would be in operation for two weeks in the gang-rape and murder of an Ariyalur-based teenage girl in 2016.

Justice AD Jagadish Chandira issued the interim injunction while hearing an appeal application preferred by S Ramachandran, the third accused in the case, who sought a direction to quash the order of the trial court that allowed the prosecution to include Section 120 (B) of IPC (criminal conspiracy) in the case.

According to his counsel Gandhi Kumar, the police had framed only six charges against all the accused on January 2, 2020. Of them, the fifth charge alone under Section 201 of IPC (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen offender) was framed against Ramachandran and the fourth accused.

“All the other charges were framed against [first and second accused]. However, the prosecution has filed an application before the trial court under section 216 of CrPC praying to add additional charges under Section 120 B of the IPC,” the advocate submitted.

He added that the trial court allowed the prosecution to include the section without considering the fact that the prosecution had not placed any material evidence before the court.

“The trial judge misconstrued the so-called extra-judicial confession of [the first accused] given before the VAO, which is inadmissible in evidence, that too given after the investigation proceedings were started,” the petitioner argued.

After government advocate S Sugendran sought time to get instruction from the police, the judge passed an interim stay for a period of two weeks and adjourned the matter to February 16.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and murder of a 17-year-old Dalit girl from Ariyalur in December 2016.