Nine Tamil Nadu cops sentenced to death in Sathankulam custodial deaths case
Nine Tamil Nadu cops sentenced to death in Sathankulam custodial deaths case
Nine Tamil Nadu cops were sentenced to death for the 2020 Sathankulam custodial deaths in Madurai, marking a major turn in the case.
Nine police personnel convicted in the 2020 Sathankulam custodial deaths case were awarded the death penalty by the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai on Monday, April 6, 2026. The court had earlier convicted all nine officers on March 23, 2026, but had reserved the sentence. Today’s verdict delivers the maximum punishment for the brutal deaths that sparked widespread outrage across Tamil Nadu.
Jayaraj, 58, and his son Benicks, 31, were detained after police alleged they kept their shop open beyond the lockdown hours; they were brutalized at night and later lodged in the Kovilpatti sub-jail. Benicks died on June 22, while Jayaraj died on June 23, 2020. The court found the police actions to be murder and handed down the death sentence to all nine involved officers.
This verdict marks one of the starkest penalties in a custodial-torture case in Tamil Nadu in recent memory and is likely to prompt further scrutiny of police conduct in custody and the processes that lead to such prosecutions.
