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

Palakkad: The Mannarkkad special court on Tuesday pronounced its verdict in the sensational Madhu lynching case. The verdict was pronounced five years after his murder.

The 30-year-old tribal youth was brutally lynched on February 22, 2018, in Palakkad district’s Attappadi, for 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.

The 16 accused in the case are from the Attappady neighbourhoods of Mukkali, Anamooli, and Kallamala. 100 out of the 129 witnesses were questioned. As many as 24 of them turned hostile during the trial. There were also instances of defection, which continued despite the appointment of Rajesh M Menon as Special Prosecutor replacing Adv C Rajendran, a situation where the prosecution could not see or speak to witnesses.

Let's take a look at the case history:

February 22, 2018- Madhu was killed in a mob attack.

May 22, 2018 -1600 page charge sheet filed.

May 31, 2018 - High Court granted bail to all 16 accused

February 16, 2022 - C. Rajendran appointed as Special Prosecutor

March 17, 2022- The charge sheet was read out

April 2, 2022- Testimony begins. The inquest examined witness Vellingiri. 

June 8, 2022 - Tenth witness Unnikrishnan defected

June 9, 2022- Eleventh witness Chandran defected, (Chandran is Madhu's relative)

June 10, 2022- Family says Madhu case trial should be stopped. Petition filed in Mannarkkad court. Petition dismissed (Trial Court asked to approach government to change counsel appointed by government) 

June 14, 2022 - Madhu's mother Malli complains to the Director General of Prosecutions demanding the transfer of Special Prosecutor Rajendran.

June 17, 2022- The trial was stayed by the High Court till June 28.

June 24, 2022 - Special Prosecutor Rajendran resigns.

June 25, 2022- Rajesh M. Menon appointed as Special Public Prosecutor, who was earlier Add. Special Public Prosecutor in the case.

July 16, 2022- Witness Protection Act was implemented (Committee order headed by District Judge to provide police protection to witnesses)

July 18, 2022 - Special prosecutor Rajesh Menon appears and the Madhu case trial resumes. The twelfth witness Anil Kumar changes statement. (Anil Kumar is a forest department watcher). Madhu's family lodges complaint with the Palakkad district police chief that the witnesses had asked for money to avoid defection.

July 20, 2022 - Fourteenth witness Anandan defected. (Corrected that the statement was first given under the police's coercion)

July 21, 2022- Fifteenth witness Mehrunnisa also defected. (Says the secret statement was given under police compulsion).

July 22, 2022- The sixteenth witness Abdu Razak changes statement.

July 23, 2022 - The 17th witness Jolly also changed confidential statement. Witnesses 10 to 17 gave their confidential statements.  Only the 13th witness Suresh gave a statement in favor of the prosecution.

July 29, 2022- Eighteenth witness Kali Muppan changes statement. 

July 30, 2022- 19th witness Kakki stands defected. 

August 1, 2022- Twentieth witness Maruthan corrected his statement in the court that he saw the accused taking Madhu from the forest.

August 3, 2022 - Twenty-first witness Viran defected. The 22nd witness Murugan did not appear despite being summoned for the hearing and the court issued a warrant. 

August 4, 2022- Prosecution relief amid further defections. 23rd witness testified in favour of Gokul. Two witnesses defected. Twenty-second witness Murugan and twenty-fourth witness Maruthan gave their statements.

August 8, 2022-Prosecution petition to cancel bail of accused. The prosecution has alleged that the High Court's bail conditions against influencing witnesses have been violated.

August 10, 2022-  The trial court accepted the prosecution's request to examine the witnesses. Shifan was arrested in the case of threatening Madhu's family. Shifan was taken into custody by the police from Ottamuli treatment centre in Attapadi. 36 lakh rupees without documents were also seized from the centre. 

August 18, 2022 - Madhu's mother Malli says that the government is not paying the prosecutor's fees

August 20, 2022- The trial court cancelled the bail of the twelve accused as the accused tried to influence the witnesses directly and through intermediaries. 

August 24, 2022 - High Court grants interim stay on trial court order cancelling bail of accused.

September 2, 2022-Trial court rejects Abbas's anticipatory bail plea in the case of threatening Madhu's mother

September 13, 2022 - Twenty-seventh witness Saitalavi defected

September 14, 2022-Twenty-ninth witness Sunil Kumar defected. When shown the video featuring Sunil, Sunil says he doesn't see anything. The trial court directed to check Sunil's eyesight. Thirty-first witness Deepu also testified in the court. 

September 15, 2022- Medical report that Sunil's eyesight is fine. Re-examined the deposed witness. He corrected and said that he was the same person in the video. Four defected- Manaf, Ranjith, Manikandan, and Anoop.

September 19, 2022- The High Court upheld the trial court's order cancelling the bail of the accused. Bail will not be granted till the completion of the witness examination. 

October 15, 2022 - Prosecution to examine 18, 19 witnesses who have changed their statement. Permission to examine 18th witness Kali Moopa and 19th witness Kaki. 

October 18, 2022 - Prosecution to summon reports in the magisterial inquiry into Madhu's custodial death. 

October 20, 2022 - The 19th witness who defected gave a statement in favour of the prosecution. He said that he defected because he was afraid of the accused. The trial court granted bail to all 11 accused.

November 3, 2022-Trial Court ordered to summon inquiry reports in two magisteries -
1. Investigation report prepared by M. Ramesan who was First Class Judicial Magistrate, Mannarkka,
2. Investigation Report of Ottapalam Sub Collector Jeromick George.

Again, in a rare move, the former magistrate who prepared the investigation report was summoned for questioning.

November 9, 2022 - Former Magistrate M Ramesh was examined by the Mannarkkad Court. The report stated that Madhu was not subjected to any mental or physical abuse while in police custody. 

November 10, 2022- Magisterial report of Ottapalam Sub-Collector submitted which stated that Madhu of Attapadi was killed due to the brutal beating by the mob. There are no other circumstances leading to Madhu's death. The report was submitted to the Mannarkkad trial court.

January 12, 2023-Examination of prosecution witnesses completed

January 30, 2023-Examination of defence witnesses begins.

February 14, 2023 - Witness examination of the respondent is also completed

February 21, 2023 - Final hearing in the case begins

March 10, 2023 - Final arguments completed and case taken up for judgment.

April 4, 2023 - Verdict announced in the case, 14 out of 16 accused found guilty.

Four prosecutors in Madhu's case:

* Advocate P. Gopinath withdrew due to the fee issue

* Advocate VT Raghunath withdrew due to health reasons

* Advocate C Rajendran resigned after the family complained.

* Advocate Rajesh M Menon completed the trial.