India tribal youth lynching: Kerala court awards 7 years rigorous imprisonment to 13 accused

A court in Kerala's Palakkad on Wednesday pronounced seven years rigorous imprisonment (RI) to 13 of the 14 persons convicted in the 2018 lynching of a tribal youth from Attappady.

The Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention Act) at Mannarkad pronounced the verdict on Wednesday in the murder of the tribal youth Madhu.

The accused are Husain, Maraikkar, Shamsudeen, Radhakrishnan, Abubacker, Siddique, Ubaid, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Muneer, Sajeev, Satheesh, Hareesh and Biju.

Thirteen of the accused- the 2nd to 15th accused- have been awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment in jail. The first accused Husain has been asked to pay a fine of Rs105,000 while the others have been asked to pay a fine of Rs118,000 on others.

The court on Tuesday had found guilty 14 of the 16 accused guilty while acquitting two others- the 4th accused Aneesh and 11th accused Abdul Kareem.

The 14 accused persons were found guilty under Section 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The 16th accused in the case was only held guilty for the offence of "assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation" under Section 352 IPC which carries a punishment which may extend to three months or a fine which may extend to Rs500 or both.

Madhu's mother and sister said earlier that they will appeal the court's decision to acquit two persons.

"All the 16 accused should be punished. We will appeal to the court", the family said. They also added that they have been receiving threats.

Madhu was beaten to death by a mob at Attappady in Palakkad district on February 22, 2018. He was allegedly tied up and beaten by a mob, who caught him from a nearby forest and accused him of serial theft.

He was also paraded on road with his hands tied up and later handed over to the police. Even though the police admitted him to a nearby hospital, he was declared dead soon after at the hospital. According to Madhu's family, he suffered from mental illnesses.

The police submitted a 3,000-page charge sheet on the case before the court. There were 127 witnesses in the case out of which 24 witnesses changed statements. The trial was completed by March 10.

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