People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, has expressed concern over the quashing of the chargesheet filed by the CB-CID against Saravanan and Krishnakumari, parents of Surjith, who is the main accused in the Kavin Selvaganesh caste killing case, by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.
In a press release, PUCL president R. Murali and general secretary T. Sekar Annadurai said that, as far as the chargesheet was concerned, the primary purpose of Section 528 of the BNSS was to determine whether a prima facie case exists against the accused or not.
To examine the evidence in depth and arrive at a conclusion is a function that falls within the jurisdiction of the trial court. The High Court undertaking such an exercise amounts to encroachment upon the jurisdiction of the trial court, they said.
It was pertinent to recall that the Supreme Court, in CBI v. Aryan Singh, reiterated that while exercising its inherent jurisdiction, the High Court cannot examine the merits of the prosecution case or conduct even a limited inquiry amounting to a ‘mini-trial’, they said.
The Supreme Court, in K.P. Tamil Maran v. State of Tamil Nadu (the Kannagi–Murugesan honour killing case), had described honour killing as a brutal form of ‘honour killing’ arising from India’s rigid hierarchical caste system. This observation of the Supreme Court was particularly relevant in the present context, they said.
PUCL urged the State government to immediately challenge the High Court order before the Supreme Court. A further investigation must be undertaken, they added.
Published – October 01, 2026 10:42 pm IST
