MADURAI: Six years after the brutal torture of 17-year-old M Muthu Karthick by SS Colony police in Madurai, which resulted in his death, the Additional District Judge of Madurai on Friday sentenced four policemen to 11 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 14,000 on them for the crime.
Judge R Joseph Joy, in his order, convicted inspector S Alexraj (55), sub-inspector R Ravichandran (61), head constable S Ravichandran (55), and grade 1 constable C Satheesh Kumar (38), who are currently under suspension, under Sections 343 (Wrongful confinement) and 304(II) IPC (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The judge also directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to undertake disciplinary action against then SP S Rajeshwari (now Inspector General of Police), who initially investigated the case, for deliberately failing to conduct a proper investigation.
In his 216-page order, the judge observed that the four policemen wrongfully confined the boy without an iota of evidence for nearly three days and brutally tortured him to force a confession out of him to the point that the injuries were grave enough to result in his death. The convicts also tried to destroy the evidence and conceal the truth, the judge said.
The judge also directed the CBCID to probe and file a charge sheet against three other policemen- sub-inspectors P Kannan and K Prem Chandran (both retired) and inspector M Arunachalam- for aiding the convicts in destroying the evidence. Since Arunachalam is still in service, the judge asked the state police to place him under suspension till the completion of the probe against him. Since the investigation officer Vijayakumar is no more, the judge ordered the DGP to appoint a new officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police to carry out the probe.
The court directed the Director of Medical Education (DME) to undertake disciplinary action against two doctors -S Jayakumar and A Sri Latha - on the ground that Jayakumar had falsely stated in the accident register that there was no external injury on Karthick's body, while Sri Latha had handed over the body to the police without conducting an autopsy.
Though the case is fit for recommending payment of compensation to the victim's family, no order is passed on that aspect since the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court had already ordered payment of Rs 25 lakh to the victim's family and an appeal against the same is pending before a division bench.
According to a petition filed by the victim's mother, M Jeya, Karthick, who worked as an excavator operator, was taken into police custody on January 13, 2019 for inquiry about a burglary in which 23.5 sovereigns of gold jewels were stolen from one Kalyanasundaram's house. Karthick was subjected to physical torture for three days, and the police later admitted him to the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) on January 18, 2019. It was found that he had multiple external injuries all over his body and that his kidney has been damaged due to the assault. He died on January 24, 2019.
Alleging that the police forced them to bury their son’s body without conducting a postmortem, Jeya moved the HC, which transferred the case to CB-CID the same year. On August 18, 2023, the court had directed the government to pay Rs 25 lakh compensation to Karthick’s parents within two months. However, an appeal filed by the government against the order is still pending.
Speaking to TNIE, Jeya thanked the court and her advocate R Karunanidhi and said, "My son got justice. He has been proved innocent. No one can call him a thief hereafter. I can finally die in peace now." She also hoped that the state will give her younger son, Muthu Pandi (22), a government job.