In a landmark judgment, a trial court in Madurai on Monday awarded a double death sentence to all nine police personnel convicted in the 2020 custodial murder of a father-son duo in Sattankulam in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.
Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, Judge G Muthukumaran said the offence was not an ordinary one but a spine-chilling and horrific crime committed by police personnel who were educated and knowledgeable.
Terming it a ‘rarest of rare’ case, he observed that a life sentence would fail to instil fear among the police. Accordingly, he awarded double capital punishment to the nine convicted personnel, including an Inspector and two Sub-Inspectors.
The judge had convicted them on March 30 and adjourned the sentencing to Monday. The court relied on direct and forensic evidence in reaching its verdict. One of the accused, Paldurai, died during the pendency of the trial. The court also rejected the defence’s contention that the accused had acted on the orders of their superiors.
The custodial deaths of the duo, Jayaraj (58) and Bennix, following alleged torture, had sent shockwaves across the country, prompting the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to take suo motu cognisance and order a CB-CID probe.
Later, bowing to public pressure, the then AIADMK government led by Edappadi K Palaniswami transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, under the monitoring of the High Court Bench.
According to the prosecution, Jayaraj was picked up for allegedly keeping his mobile phone shop open beyond stipulated hours during the COVID-19 lockdown. His son Bennix followed him to the police station on June 19, 2020.
A case was registered, and both were allegedly stripped and subjected to third-degree torture. Despite bleeding injuries, they were remanded to the Kovilpatti sub-jail, where they died within a couple of days.
The nine convicted personnel are: S. Sridhar (Inspector), P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan (Sub-Inspectors), S. Murugan and A. Samidurai (Head Constables), and Constables M. Muthuraja, S. Veil Muthu, S. Chelladurai, and X. Thomas Francis.
In addition to the double death sentence, the prime accused, Sridhar, the then Inspector of Sattankulam Police Station, has been fined ₹15 lakh. The other convicts have also been imposed hefty fines amounting to several lakhs. The court directed that the victims’ family be paid compensation of ₹1.40 crore.