A Kerala court convicted fourteen people on Tuesday for the lynching and death of a tribal man named Madhu in 2018.
The ruling was passed by a special court constituted to hear cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act).
The prosecution claimed that Madhu, a mentally challenged tribal adolescent, was tied up and mercilessly beaten to death by the accused in Palakkad’s Attappadi.
The suspects allegedly kidnapped Madhu from a nearby forest and assaulted him after accusing him of stealing rice from a grocery store.
The Special Court found the six accused guilty today of 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 High Court had previously given them bail, subject to several conditions.
However, after observing that several witnesses had turned hostile at the behest of the accused, the Special Court subsequently cancelled the bail.
In 2022, the High Court upheld the cancellation of bail.
