Madhu Lynching Case: Kerala High Court To Pronounce Verdict In Appeals On May 25, Directs Convicts To Appear

The Kerala High Court has called for the appearance of the convicts in the murder of Madhu, a mentally challenged tribal youth, who was brutally lynched to death for stealing rice from a grocery shop in Attappady, Palakkad in February 2018.

The Court also said that it would pronounce the judgment on the day fixed for their appearance (May 25).

The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar passed the following order in the appeals preferred by the convicts as well as a victim appeal preferred by Madhu's mother:

"Matter was heard by this Court prior to vacation. We find that accused No. 1 is on bail. Accused Nos. 4 and 11 has been acquitted of all charges. Accused No. 16 was convicted for the offence under Section 352 IPC and he has undergone his sentence. Post on next Monday for pronouncement of judgment. Except for accused Nos. 1, 4, 16 and 11, the concerned jail superintendent is directed to produce them before this Court on Monday. Rest of the accused shall appear."

The appeals were filed challenging the judgment of the Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Mannarkkad that convicted 14 of the 16 accused in the case, and acquitting two.

The accused had been charged with offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 324, 326, 294(b), 342, 352, 364, 367, 368, and 302 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3(1) (d), (r) (s) and 3(2) (v) of the Scheduled Caste and SC/ST(PoA) Act. The accused were found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The Special Court had sentenced 13 convicted persons to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years. The first accused was to pay a fine of Rs. 1,05,000/- while the remaining 12 accused have been imposed with a fine of Rs. 1,18,000/-. The 16th accused person in the case, Muneer, was only found guilty of the offence under Section 352 of IPC, and sentence to undergo simple imprisonment for three months and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-.

When the appeals had reached the High Court, the sentence of only one of the convicts was suspended. While dismissing the sentence suspension plea of the others, the Court had remarked that "the nature of such an act left a blot on the social conscience and the cultural fabric of the society... "

Case title: Marakkar v. State of Kerala & connected cases

Case number: Crl. Appeal No. 598/2023 & connected cases