The Kerala High Court, on Wednesday, November 15, rejected the grant of bail to 12 out of the 13 convicts in the brutal lynching and murder of tribal youth Madhu in 2018. The first accused in the case was granted bail and suspension of sentence as the court observed that he joined the group at a later part and was not part of the harassment and naked parading of Madhu. The 13 convicts were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of seven years by The Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Mannarkkad of Palakkad district, on April 4. A division bench of Justices PB Suresh Kumar and PG Ajithkumar was hearing the petitions filed by the convicts seeking suspension of their sentence.
The court observed that the conviction of the petitioners, except the first convict Hussain, under the SC/ST (PoA) Act, was because they paraded Madhu naked with his hands tied from behind along the public road for a considerable time. The court said that this made the case “exceptional.” “The nature of such an act left a blot on the social conscience and the cultural fabric of the society, which is considered to be a civilised one,” the bench observed.
The court went on to observe that the convicts also took custody of Madhu, paraded him and incessantly attacked him, which caused his death. Further, the court also took note of the fact that while the trial was underway, Madhu’s mother was threatened by some of the convicts and said that her concern about her safety and security in the event of releasing the petitioners on bail had a reason.
However, the court said that there was a difference when it came to the first convict Hussain. “The very allegation against him is that he joined the other assailants after the deceased was already captured, in custody and kept under confinement. Based on a solitary act that he stamped the deceased and as a consequence, the deceased’s head hit against the wall resulting in head injury, and that turned out to be a major cause of the death, he was found guilty. When there is no allegation that he was a party to the assembly that perpetrated harassment and ridiculing of the deceased, a different criterion is liable to be taken in his case,” the court observed and ruled that he was entitled to suspension of his order and bail, but the others were not.
The court, while suspending his sentence and granting bail, said that he should submit a bond for Rs 1 lakh, with two solvent sureties each for Rs 1 lakh, within one month. Hussain has been told by the court not to enter Palakkad Revenue District till the appeals are disposed of.
Madhu, who had mental health issues and was living inside the forest, was brutally lynched and killed alleging that he stole rice and grocery, on February 22, 2018. The court exonerated two persons and sentenced 13 convicts to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and one person for three months. The judgement also said that the cause of his death was multiple blunt force injuries, especially one to the victim’s head.
The convicts whose pleas were rejected are Marakkar (A2), Shamsudheen (A3), Radhakrishnan (A5), Aboobacker (A6), Sidhique (A7), Ubaid (A8), Najeeb (A9), Jaijumon (A10), Sajeev (A12), Satheesh (A13), Hareesh (A14) and Biju (A15).
Read: ‘Not custodial torture but mob lynching’: What the trial court found in Madhu case
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