Madurai: Madurai First Additional District and Sessions Court awarded death penalty to nine police persons in the Sathankulam custodial death case in Tamil Nadu. In addition to the death penalty for all the convicts, it ordered a compensation of Rs 1.40 crore to be paid to the victim’s family.

Madurai First Additional District and Sessions Court Judge G. Muthukumaran described the case as a rare of the rarest. The convicted nine policemen have been found guilty of the death of father and son Jayaraj and Bennix. The Judge made strong comments that the policemen who were supposed to protect them have become predators.

Those found guilty in the case include Circle Inspector S. Sridhar, Sub Inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh, K. Balakrishnan, Head Constables S. Murugan, A. Samidurai, Constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu. During the investigation, the tenth accused, Reserve Sub-Inspector Paldurai, died of Covid.

On June 19^th, 2020, the Sathankulam police arrested traders P. Jayaraj and his son Bennix on charges of violating the Covid-19 lockdown rules and keeping their shop open after 9 pm. They were allegedly tortured in the most inhuman and brutal manner at the police station. The family members alleged that the cases were registered under wrong sections against the seriously injured and were remanded. Due to this torture, Bennix died on June 22 and Jayaraj on June 23 while undergoing treatment. The deaths of the two, who had no criminal record, caused deep outrage across the country.

Initially, the Madurai High Court took over the case suo moto, but later the State Government handed over the investigation to the CBI. The CBI investigation revealed police atrocities. The post-mortem reports also clarified that the cause of death of both of them was serious injuries. The Court, considering the CBI’s arguments, convicted nine people on March 23^rd and sentenced them on Monday.