2 cops get noose for custody death
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday awarded the death sentence to two policemen who were convicted of torturing a 26-year-old man to death 13 years ago in a police station in Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala capital.
Civil police officers K Jithakumar and S V Sreekumar, the main accused in the case, des-rved no sympathy, Judge K Nazar observed, as he handed out capital punishment to the two men and also ordered them to pay a fine of ~2 lakh each. As the judge delivered the verdict, both men broke down in the courtroom.
Prabhavati Amma, the 68-year-old mother of victim Udayakumar, who fought a lone battle for 13 years, heard the verdict with folded hands..
The court also awarded three years’ imprisonment to three other accused — T K Haridas, Ajith Kumar and E K Sabu — for trying to cover up the crime and destroying evidences. All three were granted bail by the court. On Tuesday, the five were found guilty by the court.
Calling it a “rarest of the rare” crime, the judge said the case raised grave concern as it was committed by law enforcers who were bound to protect the innocent. Their actions had eroded public trust in the law enforcement system, the judge said.
Jithakumar and Sreekumar are serving police officers. Their
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counsel said both will challenge the verdict in the high court.
“I lived all these years to hear this verdict. I am satisfied now. No mother should undergo my plight. Hope this will act as a strong deterrent against police brutality,” the mother said.
The CBI case was that police constables Jithakumar and Sreekumar apprehended Udayakumar from a park along with a history-sheeter, identified as Suresh. When they recovered ~4,000 from Udayakumar, they suspected it was stolen money and tortured him. Though he was let off initially, the prosecution said that when he sought his money back, the policemen falsely implicated him in another case and tortured him, leading to his death the next day. The postmortem revealed that he received more than 40 injuries on his thighs and lower abdomen.
The CBI took over the investigation in 2008, after the mother moved the high court.