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Nine Tamil Nadu Police Officers Convicted for 2020 Sathankulam Custodial Murders

Sentencing on March 30 will signal how strongly India punishes police torture.

Overview

  • Madurai’s First Additional District and Sessions Court, which delivered its verdict Monday, found nine officers guilty of killing trader P. Jayaraj and his son J. Bennix in custody.
  • Judge G. Muthukumaran set March 30 for the sentence and ordered the Centre and Tamil Nadu to file each convict’s health records, salary slips, and asset details.
  • The CBI built its case with post-mortems, DNA from blood on station walls, lathis and the lockup, and eyewitness accounts after key CCTV was missing, and it found the lockdown charge was false.
  • The court rejected claims that injuries were self-inflicted or due to a heart ailment, ruling that repeated assaults in custody caused both deaths.
  • The case moved to the CBI under Madras High Court scrutiny, lasted nearly six years after one accused died during trial, and the family urged a punishment that deters future custodial deaths.