Sathankulam custodial deaths of father-son duo: Madurai court awards death sentence to 9 cops

MADURAI: The first additional district and sessions court in Madurai on Monday awarded death sentence to all the nine cops convicted in the murders of P Jeyaraj and his son J Beniks in Sathankulam in Tuticorin district in 2020.

Jeyaraj and Beniks were taken to the Sathankulam police in Tuticorin district late in the evening of June 19, 2020, on charges of having kept their shop open beyond the deadline during the Covid-19 lockdown. They were brutally assaulted by the policemen at night and were lodged in Kovilpatti sub-jail the next day. Beniks died of injuries in the Kovilpatti govt hospital on June 22, 2020, while his father Jeyaraj died on June 23, 2020.

Mere life sentences would not be sufficient, as the policemen would have no fear and would, instead, get emboldened, said first additional district and sessions court judge G Muthukumaran.

“It would send a false message to society. The punishment imposed on the police personnel in this case should be stringent one in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future. All the nine convicted police personnel in the case were equally involved in the attack on the father-son duo which resulted in their death,” the judge said.

Holding that the case falls within the category of rarest of rare cases, he then awarded the death sentence to all the nine policemen: The then inspector, S Sridhar, sub-inspectors K Balakrishnan and P Raghu Ganesh, head constables S Murugan and A Samadurai, and four constables -- M Muthuraja, S Chelladurai, X Thomas Francis and S Vailmuthu. The judge imposed a total fine of over Rs 1 crore on them.

The 10th suspect, the then special sub-inspector Paldurai, who too had been arrested, died of Covid-19 in August 2020. The court found all the nine police personnel guilty of the double-murder on March 23, 2026. The sentences were pronounced on Monday.

After signing judgement, judge Muthukumaran broke the nib of his pen.

The convicts being brought out of the Madurai court after the verdict. Photo by K Antony Xavier

The custodial deaths had sent shock waves and triggered public outcry across the state, and Justice P N Prakash of Madras high court took note of the killings and ordered the transfer of probe to the CBI.

Recalling the high court’s intervention, judge Muthukumaran said: “If not for the HC, truth regarding the incident would have been buried along with the mortal remains of the duo.”
He observed that Jeyaraj and his son Beniks, who were unarmed, were assaulted by the policemen at regular intervals of time throughout the night at the police station. “It was an act of vengeance by the policemen. Jeyaraj was tortured since there was an altercation with the policemen, and Benicks was tortured since he questioned the illegal detention of his father. The act was committed by the policemen with the deliberate intent to instil fear among the public as two traders had lost their lives,” the judge said.

"Where there is power, there should be responsibility. The incident was an attack on human rights," the judge observed and added that custodial death is a social evil.

The judge observed that this was not the first case of custodial death and it was also not going to be the last case either. “Such incidents are occurring everywhere,” the judge said, referring to the George Floyd incident reported in the US and the recent incident where B Ajith Kumar, a temple security guard, was killed due to custodial torture in Thiruppuvanam in Sivaganga district.

The judge observed that the act of custodial death was committed by policemen who were mentally sound and educated govt employees drawing govt salaries. “Those who should protect the public have acted in such a manner by misusing their power. This was the case of fencing eating the crops,” he said.

Earlier, the state govt asserted that custodial deaths could not be tolerated, and the central govt stated that maximum punishment should be awarded to the convicts.