Madras Court Calls Students 'Real Life Paper Tigers' In 2016 College Murder

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has strongly criticised students who turned hostile in the 2016 murder of a woman engineering student inside a Karur college classroom, observing that they had become "paper tigers in real life" by failing to support the prosecution despite witnessing the gruesome attack.

A division bench of Justices N Anand Venkatesh and KK Ramakrishnan dismissed the appeal filed by Udayakumar, a former engineering student who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his former girlfriend and classmate inside her college classroom, and upheld his conviction and sentence.

The court said the woman student was killed on August 30, 2016, after she chose to end her relationship with Udayakumar, who had studied with her in the Civil Engineering department at Karur College of Engineering but had later discontinued his course after being debarred from examinations.

According to the prosecution, an enraged Udayakumar barged into her classroom armed with a wooden log and repeatedly struck her on the head in the presence of a faculty member and several students. She later died due to her injuries.

While confirming the conviction, the court expressed disappointment over the conduct of several student witnesses who retracted their earlier statements during trial.

"The student community must understand that it is only a matter of time that a similar incident may happen to any student in a college in such a gruesome fashion," the bench observed.

"There is no use in merely expressing dissent and expressing views in social media and it has to translate itself into action or else the students will only become paper tigers in real life," the judges said.

The court noted that students who had given statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code later deposed differently in court. It remarked that the students had "let down the deceased" and "failed in their duty to uphold truth."

The prosecution's case had faced setbacks after several student eyewitnesses turned hostile. However, the court relied heavily on the testimony of an injured assistant professor who was attacked while trying to intervene. The judges held that the evidence of an injured witness carries greater credibility and found no reason to doubt his identification of the accused.

The bench also observed that some witnesses appeared to have been "won over" during the prolonged trial. Referring to one student witness who changed his version nearly 25 months after his chief examination, the court said the contradictory testimony could not be relied upon.

Calling the case an example of the growing trend of violent reactions to rejection in relationships, the court said the accused's "reckless gory act" had snatched away the life and dreams of a young engineering student.

The judges further noted that the attack had taken place in broad daylight inside a classroom, in the presence of fellow students and an assistant professor who was himself assaulted when he attempted to rescue the victim.

Finding the evidence against Udayakumar to be overwhelming, the court upheld the trial court's judgment and directed authorities to secure him to undergo the remaining period of his life sentence.