A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment the thirteen persons who were convicted for the 2018 lynching and murder of a tribal man named Madhu.

Yesterday, a special court constituted for trying cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (SC/ST Act) had convicted fourteen out of the sixteen persons who were arrayed as accused in the case.

According to a report on Manorama News, the court imposed 7 years rigorous imprisonment on the first accused and 7 years jail term for twelve other convicts.

The 16th accused was found guilty only under Section 352 of the Indian Penal Code which carries a maximum sentence of 3 years.

The prosecution case was that Madhu, a mentally challenged tribal youth, was tied up and brutally beaten to death by the accused in Palakkad's Attappadi.

The accused had allegedly caught Madhu from a nearby forest and assaulted him after accusing him of stealing rice from a grocery shop.

The accused who were found guilty today by the Special Court were accused of committing offenses punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 324, 326, 294(b), 342, 352, 364, 367, 368, and 302 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3(1) (d), (r) (s) and 3(2) (v) of the Scheduled Caste and SC/ST(PoA) Act.

The High Court had granted bail to them earlier subject to several conditions.

However, the Special Court later cancelled the bail after noting that several witnesses had turned hostile at the behest of accused.

The High Court subsequently upheld the cancellation of bail in 2022.