21 ex-law college students get 3 years jail for bloody '08 clash

CHENNAI: A city court on Thursday sentenced 21 former law students to three years of imprisonment for a violent caste clash between two groups of students in Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law College on November 12, 2008.
Broadcast live on television, the incident shocked Tamil Nadu, with a student bran dishing a large knife and anot her group of students mobbing and thrashing him with large logs. Photographs of the vio lence, which left at least four students with grievous injuries, filled the newspapers the next day . The most shocking aspect of the clash was that a large posse of police personnel stood by watching as the frenzy continued for 90 minutes. After the clash, lawyers filed a complaint on behalf of two students, Bharathi Kannan and Aramugam, with the Esplanade police, stating that a group of 41people had assaulted them with the intent of murder. The other group filed a counter-complaint accusing Kannan and Aramugam of inciting violence and murderous assault.
The cause of the dispute, according to sources, was an altercation over the printing of a pamphlet to mark Thevar Jayanti celebrations on October 30, 2008. Some students, however, said it was a confrontation between dayscholars and hostel students. The trial picked up pace after the Supreme Court rapped police, directing them to arrest state BSP chief K Armstrong. The authorities also arrested lawyer S Rajnikath, the prime accused in the case.
The accused on Thursday, under the watch of a large police contingent, attended the proceedings in the packed hall at the XVII additional sessions court.Judge Gomathinayagam acquitted Rajnikanth, Armstrong and 18 others.
He sentenced 21 accused, including Kannan and Aramugam, who filed the first complaint, to three years of imprisonment. Police had charged the duo under IPC Section 324 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons), and the rest under the same section along with Section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon). The judge also fined Kannan and Aramugam Rs 10,000 each and the others Rs 15,000 each.
Advocates S Satyachandran and C Vijaykumar, who represented a group of 41 students, of whom the judge convicted17, said they would appeal in the high court.Speaking to reporters after the verdict, they said “outsiders“ caused the clash and it was not possible for students to unleash such severe violence themselves. The authorities released the convicts on bail in the evening.