New Delhi, Aug 30: The Supreme Court today confirmed the death sentences awarded by the Madras High Court to the three convicted in the Dharmapuri bus burning case of 2000, whose act led to the death of three female students of the Thanjavur Agriculture University.
The apex court vehemently condemned their barbaric act in setting fire to a bus that the students had used during their tour.
On February 2, 2000, a special court had handed down a jail sentence to AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in the Pleasant Stay hotel case. This fired the party cadres to take to the streets to protest against the verdict.
During one such protest in Dharmapuri, at Ilakiyampatti, the cadres stopped the bus that the university students were travelling on and set fire to it. While 44 students and two teachers managed to scramble out of the bus through the windows and by breaking the glasses, Kokilavani, Hemalatha and Gayathri, got trapped inside and were charred to death.
The Dharmapuri town police arrested Madhu alias Ravindran, Nedu alias Nedunchezhiyan, and former panchayat  president of Kottapatti Muniappan along with 32 others.
Ravindran, Nedunchezhiyan and Muniappan were sentenced to death by the Salem principal sessions court in 2007. The convicted appealed in the Madras High Court which confirmed the death sentence awarded to them, in the same year. And now the Supreme Court has also confirmed their death sentence.
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