Palakkad: The Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Mannarkkad granted bail to 11 accused in the Attappady Madhu lynching case on Thursday. The court granted the bail with strict conditions.
Madhu, a tribal youth from Chindakki hamlet near Mukkali in Attappady, was captured from a cave in the forest and beaten up by a group of men on charges of alleged theft on February 22, 2018. They handed him over to the police, but Madhu died on the way to the hospital. The cause of the death was internal injuries he suffered from the beating.
Police arrested the accused two days after the incident following an uproar over Madhu’s death. Photographs and videos of the tribal youth in the custody of a group of people were widely circulated on social media.
All the 16 accused, however, secured conditional bail from the High Court on May 30, 2018. The trial court in August cancelled the bail of the 12 accused to prevent them from influencing the witnesses. The Kerala High Court upheld the decision to cancel the bail of 11 of the accused while setting aside the order on one of the accused.
The trial in the case saw many witnesses turning hostile. So far, 27 prosecution witnesses have turned hostile leaving questions over the fate of the case.
