Madhu lynching case: State and convicts file appeal before Kerala High Court against judgment of Special Court

All 13 persons who were recently convicted by a Special Court, for lynching a tribal man to death in 2018, have now approached the Kerala High Court challenging their conviction and sentence..A special court for trying cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act) had convicted the thirteen men under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code for beating the tribal man named Madhu to death. They were all sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. .The special court had also convicted one of the accused for a minor offence alleged and sentenced him to 2 months simple imprisonment. Three other accused persons were acquitted..Besides the convicts, the State Government has also filed an appeal against the judgment of the special court, arguing that the 13 convicts ought to have been found guilty of more of the offences they were charged with and that they should have been sentenced to the maximum period prescribed by the law. It has further challenged the finding of the special court with regard to the one convict who was convicted for the minor offence only.The acquittal of three of the accused have also been challenged by the State."The State is very much aggrieved by the judgment of the trial court in this case of a cruel act against an Aadivasi man, in such inhuman and unheard manner, which is an exceptional case in our society. Therefore the accused deserve to be punished to the maximum sentence under the offences charged against them. Trial court ought to have found guilty and punished the accused persons under the offences for which they are acquitted as well. The trail court did not impose sufficient punishment also for the offences they are found guilty and convicted. The trial court ought to have imposed sufficient and adequate punishment on the respondents accused persons", the State's appeal reads..The prosecution case was that Madhu, a mentally challenged tribal youth, was tied up and brutally beaten to death by the appellant-convicts in Palakkad's Attapady.The appellants, along with others, had allegedly caught Madhu from a nearby forest and assaulted him after accusing him of stealing rice from a grocery shop.16 persons stood trial for committing offences punishable under sections 143, 147, 294(b), 323, 324, 326, 342, 352, 364, 367, 368, 302 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3(1)(d), 3(1)(r), 3(2)(v), and 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act.The first accused, one Hussain, and 12 other accused were convicted by a Special Court for SC/ST Act for committing several offenses including under Sections 304 (causing death by negligence) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means). They were sentenced to undergo various periods of imprisonment under each offense, with the longest being 7 years imprisonment under Sections 304 and 326. Since the sentences were to run concurrently, they would have had to undergo 7 years of rigorous imprisonment in total as well as pay the fines as ordered by the trial court. One of the accused was found guilty under Section 352 of the IPC alone and, therefore, sentenced to 3 months simple imprisonment. The remaining three accused persons were acquitted by the Special Court for SC/ST Act.