Mannarkkad: A special court in Kerala’s Palakkad district held 14 out of 16 accused in the Attappady Madhu lynching case as guilty on Tuesday. The court will pronounce the sentence on Wednesday.
The first (Hussain), second (Marakkar), third (Shamsudheen), fifth (Radhakrishnan), sixth (Abubakr), seventh (Siddique), eighth (Ubaid), ninth (Najeeb) and tenth (Jaijumon), 12th (Sajeevan).13th (Satheesh), 14th (Hareesh), 15th (Biju), and 16th (Muneer) accused in the case were held guilty for murdering Madhu.
The 4th (Aneesh) and 11th (Abdul Kareem) accused were let off.
The Mannarkkad Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Special Court was pronouncing the verdict five years after the incident happened.
The charges slapped on the accused are as follows:
First accused (Hussain): Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC
Second accused (Marakkar): Convicted under sections Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Third accused (Shamsudheen): Convicted under sections Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Fifth accused (Radhakrishnan): Convicted under sections Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Sixth accused (Abubakr): Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Seventh accused (Siddique): Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Eighth accused (Ubaid): Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Ninth accused (Najeeb): Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Tenth accused (Jaijumon): Convicted under sections Convicted under sections 323, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
12th accused (Sajeevan): Convicted under sections Convicted under sections 141, 143 ,323, 326, 324, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
13th accused (Satheesh): Convicted under sections 141, 143 ,323, 326, 324, 304, 149 of IPC and SC/ST law
Security intensified outside court
A huge posse of police was deployed outside the court to avoid any untoward incident at the time of the verdict. Special police protection was also arranged for Madhu’s mother Malli and his sister Sarasu. Madhu’s mother had submitted a written request for police protection.
The trial in the case was completed on March 10 and the case was posted for verdict on March 18. However, it was postponed to March 30 and later reposted for April 4 for pronouncing the verdict.
The shocking incident
Attappady Chindekki Ooru Mallan’s and Malli’s son Madhu (30) was lynched by a mob and killed on February 22, 2018. Madhu, who was mentally challenged, used to stay in a cave inside the wilds away from his family.
Madhu was captured from a cave inside a forest and paraded to Mukkali, a small junction in Attappady, by a group of people who accused him of frequently stealing from the shops in the area. He was allegedly assaulted by the accused leading to his death. He was handed over to the police at Mukkali and had to be taken to a hospital on the way to the police station. However, he was declared brought dead by the hospital.
There are 16 accused in the case, all natives of Mukkali, Anamooli and Kallamala areas of Attappady. There were 129 witnesses and 100 of them were examined. As many as 24 of them turned hostile during the trial. The Special Court Judge K M Ratheesh Kumar completed the trial proceedings of the case under the supervision of the High Court.
The prosecution has exuded confidence that the accused will be convicted and sentenced to maximum punishment. The defence counsels, on the other hand, are trying everything possible to get the accused acquitted. The defence’s major argument is that Madhu was tortured by the police, and not the accused.
The proceedings at the special court which is hearing the case had kicked-off in April 2022. Last October the court had granted bail to 11 accused with strict conditions.
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 Kerala High Court on May 30, 2018. In August the trial court 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.
