The verdict in the Attappady Madhu lynching case will be delivered on April 4th by a special court in Kerala’s Palakkad district. The Mannarkkad Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Court set the date after the trial was completed five years after the shocking incident. Madhu, an Adivasi youth, was allegedly assaulted and killed by a group of people who accused him of stealing from shops in the area. There are 16 accused in the case, all natives of Mukkali, Anamooli and Kallamala areas of Attappady. The prosecution has expressed confidence that the accused will be convicted and sentenced to maximum punishment. However, the defence counsel argued that Madhu was tortured by the police, not the accused.
During the trial, there were 129 witnesses and 100 of them were examined. 24 of them turned hostile. The Special Court Judge K M Ratheesh Kumar oversaw the trial proceedings of the case under the supervision of the High Court. Last October, the court granted bail to 11 accused with strict conditions. The defence counsels are trying to get the accused acquitted, while the prosecution seeks maximum punishment.
The accused were arrested two days after the incident following an uproar over Madhu’s death. Photos and videos of the tribal youth in the custody of a group of people were widely circulated on social media. All 16 accused secured conditional bail from the Kerala High Court on May 30, 2018. In August, the trial court cancelled the bail of 12 accused to prevent them from influencing the witnesses. The Kerala High Court upheld the decision to cancel the bail of 11 of the accused while setting aside the order on one of the accused.
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