Kerala HC Upholds Lower Court’s Decision to Deny Bail to 11 Accused in Matter of Madhu Lynching Case

Kerala HC Law Insider

Aastha Thakur

Published on: 21 September 2022 at 17:49 IST

The Kerela High Court cancelled the bail applications of 11 accused in the Attappady, Madhu Lynching Case, upholding the order of the Special Court for Offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

However, the cancellation of bail was rectified for the 11th accused, named Abdul Kareem, as there was no relevant material to show he contacted witnesses directly or indirectly.

The Special Court had cancelled the bail pleas of all of the 12 accused, relying on a petition filed by the prosecution that they had contacted the witnesses on many occasions, breaching the bail conditions.

The appeal was filed by the accused, challenging the special court’s order. The matter came before Justice Kauser Edappagath, who pointed out that the phone calls between the accused and the witnesses were under observation by the Witness Protection Cell of the District Police Office, and it was found that most of the accused had over time contacted all the main witnesses over the phone.

While dismissing the appeal, the court underlined that the mother of the deceased victim was pressurized and, regarding this, a FIR was also registered.

The Court held that Section 439(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) empowers Sessions Courts, including Special Courts and Exclusive Special Courts, to cancel the bail granted by the High Court.

The court also stated that the special court observed that the witnesses turned hostile as they were won over by the accused and gave false evidence contradicting their original statements.

The judge said the special court took into account all the activities of the accused convicts as well as surrounding circumstances while giving its decisions. The court correctly applied the test of balance to form its opinion as per the rule of law.

It was observed in their finding that all the accused persons, except the eleventh, had misused the privileges guaranteed to them. They tried to mislead the case to save themselves. Hence, the court was right to cancel their bail.

The accused who filed an appeal challenging the order of the special court are Marakkar, Radhakrishnan, Aneesh, Shamsudeen, Aboobacker, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Sajeev, Muneer, Biju, and Siddiq.

In 2018, these eleven accused persons allegedly beat to death a tribal youth named Madhu.

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