Single-judge Bench of Justice R. In a significant legal development in the July 2025 Tirunelveli dishonour killing case of 27-year-old Dalit IT employee C Kavin Selvaganesh, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed the chargesheet against both the father and mother, Saravananan and Krishnakumari, of the primary accused, Surjith. Vijayakumar pronounced separate orders in Criminal Original Petitions filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
Both parents are police sub-inspectors in the Tamil Nadu Special Police Force who were previously suspended and arrested by the CB-CID following the incident.
it dismissed the petition filed by a relative (Jayapal), against whom independent evidence and physical recoveries at a quarry were found While the High Court quashed charges against the parents. The trial against the principal accused, Surjith, will proceed independently. Following the verdict, rights groups and political leaders have called for a higher appeal, though it is not clear if the state government would appeal the decision.
Because the victim belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, the CB-CID filed charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. On July 27, 2025, Kavin Selvaganesh was brutally hacked to death in broad daylight at KTC Nagar inTirunelveli, by his girlfriend’s brother, Surjith who is Accused No.1 in the case.
