Kerala special court convicts 13 people for beating to death tribal man in 2018

A special court in Kerala on Tuesday convicted 13 people for beating to death a tribal man in Palakkad district of the state for allegedly stealing food articles in 2018.

The court sentenced them for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years jail term, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Rajesh M Menon told reporters.

The SPP said the court was of the view that the accused did not have the intention to kill the tribal man.

Madhu, a tribal man from Attappady, was beaten to death after he was caught, tied and thrashed by a group of local people alleging theft on February 22, 2018.

More than five years after the incident, a special court for trial of offences under the SC/ST Act held 13 of the 16 accused in the case guilty for the crimes under Section 304 II of IPC and various other provisions of the IPC and SC/ST Act, the SPP said.

The 14th convict 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 Rs 500 or both.

Special court judge K M Ratheesh Kumar, however, acquitted the remaining two accused in the case, the SPP said.

The special court had reserved its judgement in the case on March 30.

Prior to pronouncement of the verdict, the victim's mother and sister said they expected that Madhu will get justice. "We expect a good verdict," the victim's mother said.

His sister said: "I believe my brother will get justice. We expect it to be a good verdict."

The trial in the matter saw witnesses turning hostile, allegations of threats to the victim's family to settle or withdraw the case and a change in the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in June last year.

Advocate Menon, who was the additional public prosecutor in the case, took charge as SPP in June last year after the victim's family sought a change in prosecutor.

According to the post-mortem report in the case, Madhu had injuries on the head and bruises all over the body, including broken ribs, as well as internal bleeding, police had said.

Madhu, who was said to be mentally unsound, was living in a cave in the forest for the past several months, his family had said.

His mother and sister had told television channels back in 2018 that a group of nearly 10-15 persons had gone to the forest and thrashed him for allegedly stealing food articles from some shops in the forest-fringe Agali town in Palakkad district.