MADURAI: Nearly six years after a late-night lockdown violation spiralled into one of the most shocking custodial death cases, a Madurai court on Monday sentenced nine policemen to death for the torture and killing of a father and son inside the Sathankulam police station in June 2020.The case traces back to the evening of June 19, 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, when P Jeyaraj and his son J Beniks kept their small mobile accessories shop open beyond permitted hours in Sathankulam town of Thoothukudi district. What began as a routine enforcement of lockdown rules soon escalated into a deadly chain of events.Police picked up the duo late that evening following an altercation over the violation. They were taken to the Sathankulam police station and, as the court would later establish, subjected to relentless and brutal assault through the night.Inside the station, the father and son were beaten repeatedly by multiple personnel. The violence, investigators said, was not momentary but sustained, an act of vengeance after the duo allegedly questioned the police action. The assault continued for hours, leaving both men critically injured.By the next day, June 20, despite their deteriorating condition, Jeyaraj and Beniks were produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody. They were lodged in Kovilpatti sub-jail, already bearing severe injuries from the previous night.Their condition worsened rapidly. Beniks succumbed to his injuries on June 22 at a government hospital in Kovilpatti. His father, Jeyaraj, died a day later on June 23.The deaths triggered outrage across Tamil Nadu and the country, drawing comparisons with global cases of police brutality during the same period. The Madras High Court intervened, taking suo motu cognisance and transferring the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, noting that the truth might otherwise have been buried.Delivering the verdict, First Additional District and Sessions Judge G Muthukumaran said the crime warranted the harshest punishment. A lesser sentence, he observed, would embolden errant officers and send a dangerous signal to society.
Calling custodial deaths a “social evil,” the court said the policemen had misused their authority and acted with deliberate intent to instil fear. “Where there is power, there must be responsibility,” the judge noted, describing the case as one where “those meant to protect became perpetrators.”In a symbolic gesture after signing the judgment, the judge broke the nib of his pen.The convicts include an inspector, two sub-inspectors, two head constables and four constables, all found equally responsible for the fatal assault. The court also imposed fines exceeding Rs 1 crore collectively.For the family, the verdict brought a measure of closure. “This is not just justice for us, but for all common people,” said J Persis, daughter of Jeyaraj. “No one else should go through what we did.”The court underscored that the incident was not isolated, referencing similar cases of custodial violence, and stressed that stringent punishment was necessary to deter future abuses — a message forged from the horrors of that June night when a minor lockdown violation ended in irreversible loss.
