Thiruvananthapuram: “My son got justice. No children, though, should undergo a similar plight,” a grief-struck yet visibly contented Prabhavathy Amma said on Wednesday after a special CBI court sentenced two policemen to capital punishment for torturing to death her son Udayakumar 13 years ago.

“I had expected this kind of an order only. They got what they deserved,” the frail 67-year-old Thiruvananthapuram native said. Civil police officers J Jithakumar and SV Sreekumar were awarded death sentence by judge J Nazar in his verdict that left the two guilty weeping.

It was around Onam in 2005 that the police picked Udayakumar, a 26-year-old who worked in a scrapyard, along with his friend Suresh Kumar from Sreekantheswaram Park in the state capital. Suresh had cases of petty theft against him. The cops, on seeing that their purse carried more than Rs 4,000, took the duo to Fort police station, where third-degree punishments claimed the life of Udayakumar.

Read more: Udayakumar murder: Two cops get death penalty, others jail

Since that day (September 27, 2005), it has been a tough legal battle the single mother had been fighting alone. “No mother should meet with such a fate,” said the woman, clad in a white saree that had crumples on its edges. “I roamed endlessly in search of justice. Tragedy struck me amid Onam 13 years ago,” she said at the court premises, holding an umbrella in one hand and seeking her brother Mohanan’s support with the other. “Today, I have got my share of justice ahead of the same festival. Now, I can go to temple”

For her, it had been a struggle where she had vowed not to enter any temple till the murderers of her lone son were punished.

Timeline | The culmination of a legal battle by a mother

With her eyes beaming a strong expression of decisiveness, Prabhavathy said, “This (verdict) should be a lesson to all. I won’t cry.”

A year after Udayakumar was born, Prabhavathy was deserted by her husband. She worked as a domestic help to raise the child. At the age of 27, when Udayakumar died of police torture, the mother was left to face repeated attempts by influential people to sabotage the criminal case that had put a string of police officers in the dock.

Unrelenting, Prabhavathy approached countless times the state High Court in Kochi, more than 200 km north of her city, with her set of grievances and complaints. The travails eventually proved to be successful on Wednesday at the premises of the court in Vanchiyur in Thiruvananthapuram when the judge ruled against the accused.

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