Udumalai Shankar murder case information

The Shankar murder case is a very prominent case in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Kousalya, an Engineering student from the dominant Thevar community married Sankar Velusamy, who studied in the same college. Shankar belonged to the Dalit community. The pair were married for 8 months when they both were attacked in broad daylight on 13 March 2016 near the Udumalaipet Town Bustand by a gang of three armed men. While Sankar died on the spot, Kousalya sustained injuries but survived. The sessions court sentenced six people including Chinnaswamy, the father of Kousalya to death. The court found it to be a case of honour killing by the father of Kousalya, who married a 'lower' caste man against his wishes. The Court also ordered a compensation of ₹11.95 lakhs to be equally split between Kousalya and Velusamy, Sankar's father.

Chinnaswamy was later acquitted by the Madras High Court, for want of evidence. The five others who were earlier sentenced to death also had their sentence reduced to a life term of 25 years.

The case had significant political impact and brought to light the occurrence of 'honour' killing in the state. The case was the second in terms of most number of death sentences in a single case. The heinous crime was not condemned by the major state parties considering the vote bank of the Thevar community and the upcoming 2016 Assembly elections.

Kousalya started Sankar Social Justice Trust, which helps victims of caste murder and supports inter-caste marriages. She also got married with Parai artist Sakthi of Nimirvu Kazhaiyagam in Coimbatore on 9 December 2018.

A document named India's forbidden Love telecast in Al Jazeera, captured the events and shot to critical fame.