Tamil Nadu Police Officers Sentenced to 11 Years for Teen's Custodial Death in Landmark Ruling

Chennai:

The Madurai District and Sessions Court delivered a significant verdict by sentencing four police officers to 11 years of imprisonment for their involvement in the 2019 custodial death of 17-year-old Muthu Karthik.

Inspector Alex Raj along with constables Satheesh, Ravi, and Ravichandran received the sentences after being found guilty in this landmark case.

The court additionally instructed the Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) to prepare a new chargesheet against Inspector Premachandran, Sub-Inspector Kannan, and Inspector Arunachalam for allegedly attempting to eliminate evidence. While Premachandran and Kannan have retired from service, the court ordered immediate suspension of Inspector Arunachalam who remains on active duty.

Furthermore, the court severely criticized government medical professionals who allegedly manipulated medical records to conceal evidence of custodial torture. The court mandated departmental action against Dr. Jeyakumar, who performed the post-mortem examination, and Dr. Srilatha, the Resident Medical Officer at the government hospital, for deliberately omitting injury details in their official reports.

The incident occurred when Karthik, a Madurai resident, was taken to the SS Colony Police Station for interrogation regarding a criminal matter. During questioning, he was severely beaten by police officers, resulting in critical injuries. Despite being hospitalized, he died from complications related to the assault.

The victim's mother, Jaya, approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking justice for her son's death. The High Court subsequently transferred the investigation to the CB-CID, which filed charges against Inspector Alex Raj and three other officers. After years of legal proceedings, Judge Joseph Joy issued the conviction order on Thursday, sentencing all four officers to 11 years of rigorous imprisonment.

This verdict is being recognized as a rare example of accountability in custodial death cases within Tamil Nadu. Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of People's Watch and civil rights activist whose organization closely followed the case, informed NDTV, "Cops being convicted for wrong investigation has never happened. The court has also ordered a special investigation against them by an SP-level officer. The Inspector was so powerful that he and others were neither arrested nor suspended."