Attappadi Madhu lynching case: Justice incomplete; will approach SC against acquittal of two, says mother

Palakkad: The trial court in Mannarkkad, Kerala, on Tuesday, pronounced guilty 14 of the 16 accused of lynching to death Attapadi Madhu, a tribal youth, in a mob attack in Attapadi. The verdict came five years after Madhu's killing. The quantum of sentencing will be taken up on Wednesday.

The court held 14 accused guilty of charges under IPC 304(2) for culpable homicide. The accused are Husain, Maraikkar, Shamsudeen, Radhakrishnan, Abubacker, Siddique, Ubaid, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Muneer, Sajeev, Satheesh, Hareesh and Biju.

Also Read: Kerala Lynching Case Trial Verdict: 14 out of 16 accused found guilty of killing Attapadi Madhu

Following this, Madhu's mother and sister reacted to the court verdict. Madhu's mother said that she will go to the Supreme Court against acquitting two people in the case. The mother was responding to reporters at the court premises. The sister also responded that the judgment was not complete. 

Madhu's sister said that she would approach the Supreme Court against the process of acquitting the two accused. She added that they will go to any lengths to get the punishment for two more people who were acquitted. 

The fourth and eleventh accused, Aneesh and Abdul Kareem have been acquitted by the court. Aneesh was accused of capturing and propagating Madhu's visuals of the attack on social media, whereas Maraikkar was charged with insulting Madhu, calling him a thief.

The 30-year-old tribal youth was brutally lynched on February 22, 2018, in Palakkad district’s Attappadi, for allegedly stealing rice from a grocery shop. A special investigation team filed a 3,000-page charge sheet in May 2018, named 16 persons as accused, and charged them with murder and offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Also Read: Attappadi Madhu Lynching Case Verdict: The five-year wait for justice