The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has upheld the life sentence imposed by a trial court on three brothers from Virudhunagar district for murdering their relative following a long standing dispute over sharing water from a common well in 2009.
A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and R. Hemalatha dismissed the criminal appeal preferred by Madurai Veeran, Packiaraj and Amirtharaj and confirmed the life imprisonment awarded to them by the Additional District and Sessions Court in Virudhunagar.
The case of the prosecution was that the deceased Marudhan and Irulan, father of the three convicts, were related to each other and owned agricultural lands in Tamilpadi village. They shared a common boundary and both used to draw water from a common well.
They had a long standing dispute over sharing water from the common well. On August 28, 2009, when Marudhan was drawing water from the common well using a pumpset, he was attacked by Irulan and his three sons resulting in his death. They also severed his left hand.
Irulan died during the trial in the case. The trial court, considering the evidence on record, convicted the accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2019. Challenging the judgment, the convicts preferred the appeal.
The court said that there was no merit in the appeal preferred by the three convicts and the sentence imposed by the trial court warrants no interference. The court dismissed the appeal and upheld the life sentence awarded by the trial court.
