Thiruvananthapuram (IANS) | A special court for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes at Mannarkkad in Palakkad district on Wednesday sentenced 13 people to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for the lynching of a 27-year-old tribal youth.
The court had on Tuesday found 14 of the 16 accused guilty of the crime that took place on February 22, 2018.
The sentence has been pronounced two months after the fifth anniversary of his murder.
The 24 witnesses who turned hostile will now face legal scrutiny and the first accused will have to pay a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh. The remaining 12 will collectively have to pay a fine of Rs 1.18 lakh.
Prosecution counsel later told the media that they were happy with the verdict but not with the quantum of sentence. On receipt of the papers, they will explore more avenues for further legal investigation.
While two accused have been acquitted, the court has found 14 others guilty and sentenced one of them to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500.
Since the accused has already spent three months in jail, he will now be released.
Madhu of Chindukuru in Attappady, Palakkad was lynched by a mob for allegedly stealing some articles from a shop.
A class seven dropout, Madhu learned carpentry but chose to lead a nomadic life. He used to wander aimlessly in the plains, hills and forests here and sometimes used to visit their houses.
Madhu’s troubles started when some goods were stolen from a shop. A man, who often went to the forests to collect wood, informed the local people about a man hiding in a cave in the forest.
The villagers reached the forest along with the shopkeeper only to find Madhu.
On the recovery of stolen goods worth Rs 200 from her possession, angry villagers made Madhu carry the goods on her head for about 4 km and kept on assaulting and abusing her.
When they reached Mukkali, the police arrived and took Madhu to the police station where he collapsed and died.
The strong political links of the accused with the ruling and opposition parties and the delay by the state government in appointing a special prosecutor slowed down the trial.
At one point, even the Kerala High Court intervened, directing the trial to be expedited.
When the trial began, several witnesses turned hostile but Madhu’s mother and her sister fought the case with the support of some well-wishers.
–IANS
