Kerala HC Acquits First Accused in 2018 Attappadi Madhu Lynching Case

The Kerala High Court on Monday acquitted the first accused in the 2018 Attappadi Madhu lynching case while partly allowing the state government’s appeal seeking stricter punishment for the convicted persons.

Madhu, a 27-year-old tribal youth from Chindakki Ooru in Attappadi , Palakkad district, was lynched by a mob in February 2018 after being accused of stealing rice and grocery items from a shop. The incident had sparked widespread outrage across Kerala after photographs showing him tied up and humiliated by the mob surfaced online.

A division bench of the High Court set aside the conviction and sentence of the first accused, Hussain , citing unreliable witness evidence . According to lawyers associated with the case, Hussain proved that two key witnesses who identified him were not present at the crime scene. Digital records submitted before the court reportedly showed the witnesses were elsewhere at the time of the incident.

The High Court also upheld the acquittal of the fourth and 11th accused, affirming the earlier verdict of the Mannarkkad Special Court for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes .

In April 2023, the special court had convicted 14 of the 16 accused. Thirteen were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment after being found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and related offences. The 16th accused received three months’ simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500.

The state government later challenged the verdict, arguing that the punishment was too lenient for what it described as a “cruel and inhuman” attack on an Adivasi man. The prosecution had also sought murder charges under Section 302 of the IPC instead of culpable homicide.