The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed that notice be issued to nine policemen who were awarded the death penalty by a trial court in the Sathankulam father-son custodial death case.
The case relates to the deaths of Jayaraj (63) and his son Bennix (31), who ran a mobile phone shop in Sathankulam, Thoothukudi district. They were taken to a police station on June 19, 2020, for allegedly violating COVID-19 lockdown rules, and later died one after the other. The probe was conducted by the CBI.
The accused include Sathankulam Inspector Sridhar and eight others—two sub-inspectors, two head constables and four policemen. On April 6, the Madurai First Additional Sessions Court sentenced all nine to death, observing that the police had misused their authority with a vengeful intent and that the incident brought disrepute to the Tamil Nadu Police.
As per procedure, the trial court’s death sentence reference was placed before the High Court for confirmation. A bench of Justices N. Anand Venkatesh and K.K. Ramakrishnan heard the matter, with the nine appearing via video from Madurai Central Prison.
The High Court granted time for the convicts to file separate appeals against the trial court order, issued notice to them, and adjourned the hearing to April 30.
