Sathankulam Horror: A Conviction and a Reminder on India’s long march to Custodial Justice
Six years after a father and son were brutally tortured and killed in custody, a trial court has finally convicted nine Tamil Nadu policemen. But amidst a breakdown of accountability institutions across India, what does the future of custodial violence in India look like?
Grace Anu
1 April 2026
CUSTODIAL VIOLENCE has been a never-ending saga in India. Recent figures from the NHRC reveal that only since the beginning of this year, as of March 15, there had been 170 recorded custodial deaths. During this time, Tamil Nadu has seen a series of 4 custodial tortures leading to death. Under a government that boasts of its stance on social justice, these deaths raise immense discomfort, doubt and concern. Hardly two days after the UN expert condemned the situation of torture in India, Tamil Nadu recorded its twenty sixth custodial death under the regime of the present government. This year, within the span of two months, four of those killed in custodial violence in Tamil Nadu hailed from Dalit communities.
At the same time, recently a judgment in a criminal trial on a custodial torture and death case, that shook national conscience in 2020, has been greatly welcomed. In a state, and a country, where there is no law against torture, even after signing the UN Convention Against Torture (‘UNCAT’) in 1997, the decision reinstates a sense of faith in the judicial institutions.
The Sathankulam Horror
On June 19, 2020, in the town of Sathankulam in Tamil Nadu, Jeyaraj was picked up by the police for having his shop open after the imposed curfew during the COVID-19 lockdown. Shortly after, his son Bennicks went to the police station to inquire about the arrest of his father, while he was illegally detained. From the night of June 19 until the early morning of the following day, June 20, the father-son duo were subjected to brutal torture under the orders of the Station House Officer. They were beaten with lathis and iron rods, leading to profuse bleeding. Investigation reveals that they were forced to wipe the blood stains from the floor of the police station using their own clothes in order to hide the evidence.
Hardly two days after the UN expert condemned the situation of torture in India, Tamil Nadu recorded its twenty sixth custodial death under the regime of the present government.
As is routine with custodial death cases, here too, the doctor in question, Dr Vinila, from the Sathankulam government hospital failed to record the injuries, clearing them as “fit for remand”. On June 20, they were remanded and taken to the Kovilpatti sub-jail, where on June 22,, 2020, both the father and the son complained of breathing difficulty. Upon being taken to the hospital, Benniks breathed his last on the night of June 22, followed by the death of his father Jeyaraj in the early hours of June 23, 2020.
A persistent litigation for justice
Immediately after the incident, on June 24, 2020, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance of the case, with the now-retired judge Justice P.N.Prakash and Justice B. Pugalendhi, ordering a CBCID probe into the matter. The Judicial Magistrate who was inquiring into the case was offered police protection and in a first of such events, the police station was ordered to be locked, in order to preserve the evidence.