The parents, several of whom were present to hear the court order on Wednesday, said they were deeply disappointed by the judgment, handed down a little more than 10 years to the day one of the state's worst ever accidents took place.
Many of the parents were speechless after the judgment. Others said they never anticipated that the judge, N Mohammed Ali, would let off the hook more than half the accused, including three schoolteachers, and vowed to appeal in a higher court that all 21 be given life imprisonment.
There were heated reactions from the parents as soon as the judge acquitted 11 of the accused, stating that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond doubt the charges levelled against them.
It had been alleged that on July 16, 2004, when the fire broke out, teachers moved some Tamil-medium students to an English-medium classroom upstairs to manipulate the number of students before an education department probe. The parents alleged that the teachers locked up the students inside the classroom and went to the temple — it was Aadi Amavasai — leaving the children trapped in the classroom.
"It is shocking that 11 of the accused have escaped punishment," said R Mahesh, 44, whose son, Vignesh, a Class 3 student at the time, was burnt alive. The boy's sister Indumathi survived.
"Negligence by the teachers was the main reason that our children suffered a horrible death," he said. "All the parents have decided to appeal the judgment and have all the accused punished as per law." Saroja who lost her grandchildren C Rahul Gandhi, 14, and C Indira Gandhi, 10, in the fire, has lived the last decade to see that justice is delivered to the children.
Waiting under the scorching sun at the Thanjavur district principal and sessions court from Wednesday morning, the 70-year-old said she felt let down by the exoneration of 11 of the accused and the sentence handed down to 10 accused. But she said she hoped an appeal would secure the life sentence for them too, just like school founder Pulavar Palanichamy.
The parents said the "lenient verdict" would not send a strong message to errant officials.
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