Tirupur Dalit murder: Five accused remanded to custody

Coimbatore: Five persons, arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a Dalit youth in front of his upper caste Hindu wife in Tirupur district, were remanded to judicial custody on Wednesday.

The five - Manikandan, Jagadeeshwaran, Madan alias Michael, Selvakumar and Manikandan - were produced before the Udumalpet Judicial Magistrate R Srividhya, who ordered that they be remanded in judicial custody for 15 days.

They were charged under various sections of IPC including 302 (murder), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons) and also under the stringent provisions of SC/SC (Prevention of Atrocities Act).

Police produced the weapons and vehicles allegedly used in the brutal act. They would be lodged in the Central Jail here, police said.

Shankar (22) and Kausalya (19), whose inter-caste marriage was opposed by their families, were attacked by a gang, who came on a motorcycle, with sickles in full public view on Sunday in nearby Tirupur district, resulting in the death of the husband.

Kausalya is undergoing treatment at the Government hospital here under police protection.

Kausalya's father, Chinnasamy had already surrendered before the police.

The couple, married eight months ago despite opposition from their families, were waiting at the Udumalpet bus stand when they were attacked.

Members of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes will meet parents of Shanakar at Kumaralingam, the native of the youth and also Kausalya in the hospital here, police said.