Senkodi a martyr: Kanchi residents

The entire town of Kancheepuram mourned the death of Senkodi, the 21-year-old girl who set herself on fire on Sunday demanding the commutation of the death sentence of the three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi  case, as her body was taken out in a procession through the thoroughfares of the silk town on Monday. Many people said they saw in her action a ‘real sacrifice’.

The body of the girl, belonging to the Irular community, was taken to Mangalampadi village, where she was born, and the cremation was held on Thursday. Senkodi had been in the care of Kancheepuram Makkal Mandram, an NGO working for the downtrodden addressing their cultural and social issues, for the past eight years, after her widower father took a second wife. Many shops downed shutters and huge crowds gathered along the roads, besides residents watching from rooftops, as her body was taken around.