Father-son die in custody: 9 police sentenced to death in India

A court in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, has sentenced nine police officers to death on Monday, April 6, over the custodial deaths of businessman P Jayaraj and his son J Benix six years ago, a case that sparked nationwide outrage in India.

The convicted officers are Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, and police constables Murugan, Samadurai, Muthuraja, Chelladurai, Thomas Francis and Veilumuthu.

Describing the incident as an "abuse of power", the court said Tamil Nadu has many honest police officers and that this verdict "will not instil fear" among them.

"The father and son were stripped naked and brutally tortured. Reading this sends a shiver through the heart," the court observed.

At the time of pronouncing the verdict, the court kept a strict watch on the behaviour of the accused police officers. "They were tortured brutally in front of each other after being stripped naked out of vengeance," the court noted.

Emphasising that the case is a clear example of abuse of power, the court stated, "Those who are paid salaries from public funds cannot cite mental stress as an excuse for such acts." The court further commented that had it not been for the constant monitoring of the Madras High Court's Madurai bench, "the truth might have been suppressed."

Terming the brutal torture and subsequent deaths of the businessmen in police custody as "rarest of rare", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had demanded the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole for the accused.

The prosecution argued that the horrific nature of the crime, supported by testimony from three eyewitnesses, has shaken the collective conscience of society. Highlighting the grave human rights violation, the CBI noted that the victims were brutally beaten with weapons, warranting the maximum punishment.

The incident began on June 19, 2020, when Jayaraj and Benix, who ran a mobile phone shop, were arrested for keeping their shop open beyond permitted hours during lockdown — a charge later proven false. They were taken to Sathan Kulam police station and later sent to judicial custody. Both died within a few days.

Relatives alleged that the two were tortured throughout the night at the police station, citing bleeding from the anus and other signs of severe physical torture.

Following a directive from the Madras High Court, the CBI took over the investigation from the state's CB-CID and arrested 10 police officers, including one inspector, two sub-inspectors and several constables. The agency later filed murder charges against the accused officers.

A crucial breakthrough during the investigation came from the testimony of a woman constable, who told investigators that the father and son were tortured all night, and that there were bloodstains on tables and sticks at the police station. Investigators also faced challenges, including the deletion of crucial CCTV footage from the police station, which was reportedly set to delete automatically each day and had not been saved.

The trial, which lasted more than five years, recorded testimony from over 100 witnesses.

Source: NDTV