Sattankulam father-son custodial deaths case: Trial court convicts all nine accused police personnel

Nine police personnel convicted in Sattankulam custodial deaths; sentencing to be announced on March 30.

Six years after a trader P. Jayaraj and his son J. Benicks died of custodial torture during the COVID-19 lockdown at the Sattankulam Police Station, the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai on Monday convicted all nine accused police personnel.

Judge G. Muthukumaran said he will pronounce the quantum of sentence on March 30.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed its chargesheet in the case on September 25, 2020 and followed it up with a supplementary chargesheet on August 12, 2022. It arraigned as accused the then Sattankulam Inspector S. Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan, head constables S. Murugan and A. Saamidurai, and constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu. Special Sub-Inspector Pauldurai, an accused in the case, died during trial after contracting COVID-19.

The CBI said Jayaraj and his son Benicks were subjected to brutal torture by the policemen, knowing full well that it was sufficient to cause their deaths. During the investigation it was revealed the traders had not violated COVID-19 lockdown rules, a charge on which the police had detained them. The CBI said the investigation revealed Jayaraj was picked up from his shop near the Kamaraj statue at 7.30 p.m. on June 19, 2020, and lodged at Sattankulam police station in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused.

On information, Benicks rushed to the station to enquire about the arrest of his father. He objected to his father being beaten up. Following an altercation, the two were wrongfully confined at the police station and beaten up to “teach them a lesson on how to behave with the police”. The torture continued for several hours throughout the night, the CBI said.

Jayaraj and Benicks were made to clean the blood from their wounds. The next morning, the cleanliness worker of the Sattankulam police station was made to clean the blood on the floor to destroy the evidence. A false case was registered against the two by the policemen, the CBI added.