Kerala govt moves High Court seeking maximum punishment for convicts in Attappadi Madhu lynching case

Kochi: The Kerala government has filed an appeal in the High Court in the Attappady Madhu murder case, demanding that the quantum of punishment pronounced by the trial court should be increased to maximum punishment under the relevant sections, including murder.

Also read: Kerala Lynching Case: Court sentences 13 accused to 7 years rigorous imprisonment

The appeal also claims that it was unlawful for the trial court to dismiss the murder charges.

The Mannarkkad Special Court found the accused guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced them to a maximum of seven years of rigorous imprisonment. The government, however, argues in its appeal that the sentence was given without taking into account the prosecution's testimony or its scientific, medical, and digital evidence.

The trial court on April 5 pronounced 14 out of 16 accused guilty. 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.

Thirteen people have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment except for Muneer, the sixteenth accused. The court directed Muneer to pay a fine of Rs 500. He was earlier sentenced to three months in prison and continued to remain behind bars for so long. The court also ruled that the first accused Hussain must also pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The court acquitted two people in the case -- the 4th accused Aneesh and the 11th accused Abdul Kareem.

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 offenses under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

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