In a sensational turn to the Udumalapet Shankar murder case, the Madras High court has dismissed the death sentence imposed on Kousalya's father Chinnasamy and has acquitted him of all charges. The death penalty of five other convicts has been reduced to 25 years of imprisonment.

In this case of caste discrimination, earlier in 2017, a trial court had awarded death penalty to six persons, including the father of Kousalya for conspiring and killing Dalit youth Shankar who had fallen in love and married her.

The gruesome incident happened on March 13, 2016, when a gang had hacked Shankar and his wife Kausalya outside a shopping complex in Udumalpet in Tirupur district, with long knives. While Shankar died, Kousalya sustained serious injuries, and police had arrested 11 persons including Kausalya’s parents Chinnasamy and Annalakshmi and the killers.