Tribal youth murdered on charges of stealing rice, verdict after 5 years in special court of Kerala; 14 found guilty, will be punished tomorrow

On February 22, 2018, a mob caught a tribal man for stealing rice at Attappady, near Palakkad in Kerala. The mob thrashed 27-year-old Madhu badly with sticks and rods. Later they dropped him at the police station. The police took the injured Madhu to the hospital but she died.

Kerala Police detained some people after the video of the incident went viral on social media. Of these, 14 accused have been convicted by the Special Court of Manarkkad on Wednesday. While 2 people were acquitted. The punishment of all the convicts will be announced on April 5.

The hearing of this case started from June 2022, four years after Madhu’s death and about 122 people were made accused. But in the middle two lawyers had resigned, after which the case went on for a long time.

The selfie of the accused became the proof
The Mannarkkad court selected the selfies of the accused as evidence in the case. The court found Hussain, Marakkar, Shamsuddin, Abubakar, Siddiqui, Ubaid, Najeeb, Jajuman, Sajeesh, Satish, Sanjeev, Harish, Biju and Munir guilty. However, Aneesh and Abdul Karim have been acquitted.

The Kerala High Court had earlier granted bail to the accused with several conditions. However, the special court had canceled the bail saying that several witnesses had turned hostile at the behest of the accused. The High Court also upheld the cancellation of bail in 2022.

Now know what was the whole matter 5 years ago
The case pertains to Palakkad district of Kerala, where 27-year-old tribal youth Madhu was brought by some people from the forest. Tied his hands and feet and then started beating him. Some people were also seen taking selfies during the incident. After this he was handed over to the police in an inebriated condition. Police took Madhu to the hospital but she could not be saved. According to him, Madhu was mentally unwell. Sometimes he used to come to the urban area from the jungles.

Seeing the condition of Madhu, it was estimated that he was hungry for the last several days. That’s why he came from the jungle to the city. Due to hunger, he had stolen rice and some food items. Madhu belonged to the Chindakki tribal settlement.