The Kerala high court on Friday stayed the trial of 16 people for the murder of a 28-year-old tribal man four years ago who was lynched by a mob because he stole food.
The court has directed the state government to file a reply in 10 days. All 16 accused in the case are out on bail.
The high court’s order came on a petition by his mother who accused the prosecution of trying to weaken the case against the accused.
Madhu’s mother, M Valli moved the court after a number of witnesses turned hostile and later, she requested the government to change the public prosecutor. Though the mother moved the trial court it said it has no provision to do this and later she moved the high court. The case had attracted enough embarrassment to the government which later set up a special court to try the case.
As the trial started in January last year, many witnesses turned hostile and his mother alleged that special public prosecutor C Rajendran was not carrying out his job properly. She also alleged that since some of the accused were close to the ruling party there was a deliberate attempt to weaken the case. After hearing her counsel in detail, the court stayed the trial proceedings and directed the government to file a reply in 10 days.
Madhu (28) , a person living with mental illnesses, was lynched by a mob in February 2018 alleging theft in Attapadi in Palakkad district. Some of the accused even posted selfies with the bleeding man who was tied to a tree. Post-mortem report later confirmed that he suffered serious internal injuries in the attack that eventually led to his death.
His relatives said that Madhu had been staying away from the family for many years. They said he used to come out of the forests once in a while to collect food items to sustain his life in the forest and he was not a thief as alleged by the mob.
The lynching triggered widespread protest across the state. It also exposed the living conditions of the tribals in remote areas of the state. Attapadi is one of the most impoverished areas of the state that hit headlines frequently over malnutrition deaths of children. Though successive governments pumped in enough money for development, their living conditions remain more or less the same.
