From death row to award-winning author, C. Selvam expresses remorse, reflects on the families of his victims

Oru Thooku Kaithiyin Vaakumoolam was recognized because it combines a chilling prison account with striking personal transformation. Selvam does not claim innocence. Instead, he accepts responsibility for the violence in his past and examines its consequences. His mature language and changed outlook give the memoir unusual force.

The transformation began through sustained reading. After his death sentence was confirmed in 1998, Selvam turned to serious literature and fiction by major writers. He later began writing with encouragement from fellow inmate Mukilan and scholar S.V. Rajadurai. Publisher Badri Seshadri was impressed and Kizhakku Pathippagam published the manuscript.

The award matters because it brings attention to writing created inside prison and to literature’s healing potential. The Iyal Award was presented to Selvam in absentia on October 18, 2026. His memoir shows how reading can develop language, reflection, and responsibility even after grave crimes.

A prison memoir is a personal account written by someone who has experienced imprisonment. It usually combines events, memories, inner reflection, and observations about prison life. Such writing can reveal how a person understands crime, punishment, relationships, and change. It is not the same as claiming innocence or presenting a legal defence.

Selvam’s memoir begins in a world of darkness and describes the life that followed his conviction. He writes about the violence connected to Ayyavu’s murder, his years behind bars, and the effect of reading serious literature. He also reflects on the families of people who were killed and on his own attempt to become a good man.

The manuscript was written in Selvam’s neat handwriting. Its importance comes from the contrast between his past actions and his later voice. The article presents the book as a record of accountability, emotional awakening, and literary development inside prison.

The murder grew from a violent rivalry between Selvam’s group and Ayyavu, described as a notorious gangster. The conflict escalated in Puthukudiyiruppu, one of Kanniyakumari district’s most feared areas. The immediate trigger was an attack on Selvam’s family rather than a random confrontation.

Ayyavu and his associates failed to find Selvam, so they killed 17 cows belonging to his family. Enraged by this act, Selvam and his friends sought revenge. They killed Ayyavu inside the Nagercoil court in 1994. The murder shocked people across Tamil Nadu because it happened inside a court.

Selvam later acknowledged that he had blood from the past on his hands. He did not claim innocence or say that false cases had been filed against him. Instead, he linked the tragedy to the period, place, politics, circumstances, and his age, while hoping that he had since become a good man.

Selvam and his two associates, Sheik Meeran and Radhakrishnan, have already completed 32 years in prison. They were convicted for murdering Ayyavu inside the Nagercoil court in 1994. The case initially carried the most severe sentence available to them: death.

Their death sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment. In the circumstances described by the article, this removed the immediate prospect of execution but did not restore their freedom. They still have to spend the rest of their lives in prison. The change therefore altered the form of punishment, not its lifelong impact.

This history is central to Selvam’s memoir. After the death sentence was confirmed in 1998, he began reading serious literature and fiction more intensely. Years later, he wrote about his past, the families harmed by the killings, and the personal change he associates with reading and reflection.

When a death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, the person is no longer sentenced to be executed. The sentence is changed to imprisonment for life. Exact legal effects can vary by jurisdiction, but the article gives a clear outcome in this case: Selvam and his associates must remain in prison for the rest of their lives.

The change followed their convictions for murdering Ayyavu inside the Nagercoil court in 1994. Selvam, Sheik Meeran, and Radhakrishnan were initially sentenced to death. Their sentences were later commuted, but they had already spent decades in custody and had completed 32 years behind bars when the article was published.

Commutation therefore changed the punishment’s form while preserving its permanent loss of liberty. It also created the circumstances in which Selvam continued reading and eventually wrote his memoir. His writing does not erase the conviction or the harm to the victims’ families. It records how he now understands those consequences.

Sustained reading changed Selvam by making him examine his past instead of simply defending it. He began with small books, especially works about Periyar, and later moved to serious literature and fiction. He said books reshaped his thinking and reconstructed his personality, despite having studied only until Class VIII.

The change became visible in both language and conduct. The article describes his spoken and written language as mature. After marrying and having children, he thought about the children of people who had been killed. Buying sweets or new clothes for his own children made him imagine their loss of a father, and the thought pushed him into depression.

Writing helped him express this new responsibility. He began in 2019 with a pen and notebook from Mukilan, completing 45 pages in one day. Encouragement from Mukilan and S.V. Rajadurai led to further work. His memoir accepts his guilt while recording his effort to become a good man.

Rehabilitation in criminal justice means supporting change in a person who committed a crime. It can involve education, reflection, treatment, skills, and opportunities to develop safer behaviour. Punishment is different: it is the legal consequence imposed for the offence. Accountability means accepting responsibility and facing the harm caused, especially to victims and their families.

Selvam’s experience illustrates these ideas without cancelling the crime. Reading serious literature helped him rethink his personality and develop mature language. After starting a family, he became deeply affected by the suffering of the dead men’s children. He did not claim innocence. He described having blood on his hands and hoped he had become a good man.

His case also shows that rehabilitation and accountability can exist alongside punishment. Selvam and his associates remain imprisoned for life after their death sentences were commuted. His reading and writing suggest personal change, but the article does not say that the victims’ families received compensation or that Selvam was released. Their loss remains permanent.