Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday acquitted the first accused in the 2018 Attappadi Madhu lynching case.
Madhu, a 27-year-old tribal youth from Chindaki Oru in Attappadi in Palakkad district, was lynched by a mob in February 2018 after he was accused of stealing rice and groceries from a shop.
Images of the assault, including images of Madhu being detained and humiliated by mob members, sparked widespread outrage across Kerala.
A lawyer linked to the case said the Supreme Court also partially allowed the state’s appeal against the other defendants.
He said that the court also increased the sentence imposed on the sixteenth defendant.
The lawyer told reporters here that the court annulled the conviction and sentence of the first accused, Hussein, after finding that the evidence against him was unreliable.
He said that Hussein was able to prove in court that the two witnesses who identified him were not present at the scene of the accident.
Digital records presented before the court showed that the witnesses were elsewhere at the relevant time.
The bench also upheld the acquittal of the fourth and eleventh accused, confirming the previous ruling reached by the Special Court for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Mannarkkad.
Of the 16 accused in the case, the Mannarkkad Special Court, in April 2023, convicted 14 people.
The court sentenced thirteen defendants to aggravated imprisonment for seven years after the court convicted them of committing premeditated murder that did not rise to the level of premeditated murder and other crimes.
The sixteenth defendant was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and a fine $500, while the fourth and eleventh defendants were acquitted.
Later, the state government moved the Supreme Court, holding that the punishment imposed by the lower court was inadequate considering the seriousness of the crime.
The prosecution argued that the assault on Madhu was a “cruel and inhuman act” committed against an Adivasi man in an unprecedented manner and that the accused deserved the maximum punishment under the law.
The state also challenged the trial court’s decision to treat the offense as murder falling short of culpable homicide, rather than murder, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the prosecution, the oral, digital, scientific and medical evidence presented during the trial clearly proved the crime beyond reasonable doubt and justified the imposition of a harsher sentence.
Before pronouncing the ruling, the Supreme Court ordered all the defendants to appear before it on May 25.
The bench also ordered the prison authorities to produce the convicted defendants currently serving their sentences, while directing those released on bail to appear in person.
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