NEW DELHI, Apr 6: A trial court in Tamil Nadu on Monday awarded death penalty to nine policemen found guilty of custodial torture and murder of a trader P. Jayaraj (58) and his son J. Benicks (31) during the COVID-19 lockdown at Sattankulam in Thoothukudi district.
The custodial torture meted out to the father and son in June 2020, who were detained at the Sattankulam police station on the mere charge of violating COVID-19 lockdown norms and keeping their mobile phone sales and service showroom open, had shaken civil society and also became a political issue.
The Madurai First Additional District and Sessions Judge, G. Muthukumaran, had on March 23 held that all the nine policemen prosecuted by the CBI in the case were guilty of the crime.
The judge awarded death sentence to the then Sattankulam inspector S. Sridhar; sub-inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan; head constables S. Murugan and A. Saamidurai; and constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu. Special sub-inspector Pauldurai was also an accused. But he died during trial after contracting COVID-19.
The judge said the act of the police personnel was unacceptable. “Where there was power there should be responsibility. Jayaraj and Benicks were unarmed and were tortured at regular intervals all through the night at the police station,” the judge said. Jayaraj was tortured following an altercation with the police personnel, while Benicks was tortured for intervening. They had no previous antecedents and it was an act of vengeance and instilled fear among the public.
The judge said the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had monitored the case and if not for this, the case would have been buried. “The police personnel were mentally sound and well educated. They were drawing government salaries. Those who should protect and safeguard the public acted in such a manner. It was a case of the fence eating the crop,” he said.
It was an attack on human rights, the judge said, adding the custodial deaths were social evils. “Mere life sentence was not sufficient. The judgment should serve as a deterrent and should prevent recurrence, the judge said, and awarded the maximum sentence on the convicts. He said all of them were equally involved in the brutal attack on Jayaraj and Benicks. The judge also imposed a total fine of over ₹1 crore on the convicts. The judge found the police personnel guilty of murder and other offenses under the Indian Penal Code.
The Tamil Nadu government, in its report, submitted that custodial deaths cannot be tolerated and the Central government had sought maximum punishment for the convicts.
The CBI had said the investigation revealed that Jayaraj was picked from his shop on June 19, 2020, and lodged at the Sattankulam police station in pursuit of a criminal conspiracy hatched by the police personnel. On information, Benicks rushed to the police station to inquire about the arrest of his father. He objected to his father being beaten up.
Following an altercation, the two were wrongfully confined at the police station and beaten up to “teach them a lesson on how to behave with the police.” The CBI said Jayaraj and Benicks were subjected to brutal torture by the police personnel knowing that it was sufficient to cause their death. During the investigation, it was revealed the traders had not violated the COVID-19 lockdown rules, a charge on which the police had detained them.
The traders were made to clean the blood from their wounds. The next morning, a sanitary worker was made to clean the blood to destroy evidence. A false case was registered against the two, the CBI added. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu Cognizance of the crime and passed a slew of directions. The court said it had found prima facie material to book the police personnel for murder.
(Rohit Kumar)
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