The Special Court for SC/ST (PoA) Act, Mannarkkad, has rejected a bail application filed by the accused in a case connected to threatening the mother of Attappady Madhu, a tribal youth who was lynched by a gang at Mukkali, Attappady, in February 2018.
Justice K.M. Ratheesh Kumar on Friday rejected the bail application of Abbas, who was accused of intimidating Madhu’s mother Malli. However, Abbas was absconding.
The court is to resume the trial of the Madhu lynching case on Saturday.
On August 24, the High Court had stayed the Mannarkkad trial court’s order cancelling the bail given to the accused in the Madhu lynching case. It was on August 20 that the trial court cancelled the bail of 12 accused on the ground that they had violated the bail conditions by influencing the witnesses. As many as 13 witnesses had turned hostile ever since the court began the trial on June 8 this year.
Although Justice Ratheesh Kumar had, in his August 20 order, said “any further delay in cancellation of the bail of these accused (accused no. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 16) will leave room for influencing of the remaining witnesses in this case, and which in turn may result in complete damaging of the prosecution case,” High Court judge Justice Kauser Edappagath stayed the order asking how could a lower court have jurisdiction to cancel the bail granted by the High Court.
There were 16 accused in the case. Out of them, the trial court had cancelled the bail of Marakkar, Shamsuddin, Aneesh, Radhakrishnan, Aboobacker, Siddeek, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Abdul Kareem, Sajeev, Biju, and Muneer.
The Mannarkkad court had remanded Aneesh, Siddeek and Biju in judicial custody soon after cancelling their bail on August 20 and sent summons to the other accused. However, they evaded arrest and approached the High Court for a stay.
It was on February 22, 2018, that Madhu, 27, from Kadukumanna tribal hamlet near Mukkali in Attappady was captured, tied and beaten up by a group of men on the charges of alleged thefts. They handed him over to the police, but Madhu died on the way to hospital. The cause of the death was internal injuries he suffered from the beating.
Police arrested the accused after two days when Madhu’s death triggered a row following circulation of photographs and videos on social media of his being tied and beaten up.
All the accused, however, secured conditional bails from the High Court on May 30, 2018. With the accused being released on bail, the trial of the case got inordinately delayed, and no special prosecutor was willing to take up the case.
Following pressures from Madhu’s family and human rights activists, and the High Court’s intervention, the Special Court for SC/ST (PoA) Act, Mannarkkad, began the trial on June 8, 2022. But within two months of the trial, 13 witnesses turned hostile, raising concerns of the prosecution losing the case.
The High Court, meanwhile, asked the trial court to complete the trial by August 31. However, the court suspended the trial on August 10 when the prosecution sought the cancellation of the bail given to the accused citing the witnesses turning hostile en mass as a reason.
