Tamil Nadu: Three decades on, 83-year-old woman continues to await release of sons jailed in child murder case

CHENNAI: Hope my sons will be free men, says an 83-year-old retired teacher, who has been waging a decade-long legal battle for the premature release of her two wards incarcerated for 31 years in an abduction-cum-murder of a 10-year-old boy in 1992.

V Kuppammal, living in a tiled roof house in Manimangalam in Kancheepuram district, looks forward to the days when her sons – Mohan (alias) V Mohanarangam and Gopi – would come home on parole. The retired teacher's legal battle without media glare, political influence, and the campaign has gone unnoticed since 2012.

Lamenting that her sons lost three-fourths of their lives behind bars, the octogenarian wishes that her sons be free men.

Recalling the chain of events that led to the imprisonment of her sons, when they were in their early 20s, Kuppammal claimed, “Myself and my husband (Valliappan) were illegally confined in the police station for 45 days in connection with the murder case and were intimidated by the police. They also beat up my younger son to confess to the crime.”

Mohan and Gopi, who are now 54 and 51 respectively, were among the four, who were awarded capital punishment in 1993 by the Chengalpattu sessions court in the murder of a 10-year-old boy for ransom. The sentence was upheld by the Madras High Court and subsequently by the Supreme Court in 1998.

The then President Pratibha Patel commuted their death sentence to life-term nearly a decade later. “I have been knocking on the doors of Chief Ministers and top bureaucrats pleading for my sons’ release since the commutation of the death sentence,” she said wondering why her sons were denied premature release while the convicts in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were granted the same.

Explaining further how her sons were fabricated in this case, she said that the only link between her elder son and Pushparaj, who played a main role in abducting the boy, was that he helped the latter get a driver job in Binny Engineering Limited. “Citing his family situation, Puspharaj approached my son for a job. Mohan helped him get a job that ultimately derailed the lives of my two sons,” she claimed.

The duo remains imprisoned despite being eligible for premature release according to government orders 64/2018 and 488/2021. However, two other convicts were granted premature release last year.

Citing the President’s clemency order that reads “life imprisonment with the condition that the prisoners shall remain in prison for the whole of the remainder of their natural lives and there shall be no remission of the term of imprisonment ”, the prison authorities denied the premature release for Mohan and Gopi.

Speaking on the premature release in parallel to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case, Perarivalan's advocate S Prabhu said that Perarivalan, Murugan, and others, who were denied clemency, approached the judiciary and secured their commutation. However, Mohan and Gopi despite being granted clemency based on their good conduct were still languishing in prison, he said.

Speaking on behalf of the duo, he said, “They are victims of artificial classification introduced in their clemency order and it is against the Constitution and their rights for freedom.”

Meanwhile, KK Raja, the counsel of Mohan and Gopi, explained that they have plans to approach the court to secure their rightful freedom.

Observing that the duo has been coming on parole without escort and exhibiting good conduct in prison, he asserted that these factors clearly show they are disciplined and deserve a second chance in their life.