more-in The Principal District Court has convicted a man under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and awarded five-year imprisonment for abusing and assaulting a conservancy worker and a bank staff who came to his rescue at Perunkulam in 2012. Passing orders on the five-year-old case, Principal District Judge A. Kayalvizhi held the accused – M. Chinnavan alias Muneeswaran guilty under sections 294 (b), 327 and 427 of Indian Penal Code, read with section 3 (1) (X) of SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act. The judge awarded three years imprisonment and imposed fine of ?5,000 for offences under IPC sections and five years imprisonment and fine of ?25,000 for offences under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. She directed that the accused should undergo the sentences concurrently. The prosecution case was that the accused, when came to the tea shop at Perunkulam on July 21, 2012, had abused M. Selvaraj, a conservancy worker for not coming to his house to remove and bury a dead dog. When Senthilvelan, an ICICI bank staff, also belonged to the Arunthadiyar community came to his rescue, the accused abused him and damaged his two-wheeler, the prosecution said. M. Murugan, Inspector of police, Uchipulli police station, who pursued the case after the then Deputy Superintendent of Police Manivannan filed the charge sheet, said the accused was present in the court when the judge pronounced the order. He was lodged in Madurai central prison, he said. The accused, a history-sheeter in the Uthipulli station faced two more SC/ST atrocities cases and a murder case, he said. The accused was detained under the Goondas Act for a year, Mr. Murugan said.

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