A court in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu sentenced nine police officers to death on Monday for the 2020 custodial murders of P. Jeyaraj and his son, Benicks. The two men died in jail shortly after their arrest for allegedly keeping their mobile phone shop open past government-mandated lockdown hours.
The presiding judge delivered a scathing rebuke during the sentencing, characterizing the killings as a deliberate abuse of power. The court found that the officers had stripped and brutally assaulted the pair in each other's presence.
"They did this with the intention of killing," the judge stated. He rejected pleas for leniency based on the officers' personal backgrounds, noting they were educated individuals who attacked unarmed victims. "They should not be forgiven. They should not be given lesser sentences."
A case of systemic brutality
Ten officers were originally arrested in connection with the deaths, but one died from Covid-19 while in custody in 2020. The remaining nine were convicted of murder last month. They retain the right to appeal the death sentences.
The brutal nature of the deaths triggered widespread protests across Tamil Nadu, drawing condemnation from high-profile figures, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and cricketer Shikhar Dhawan. The incident reignited a long-standing national conversation regarding police conduct and the frequency of custodial deaths in India.
Human rights organizations maintain that hundreds of people die in Indian police custody every year. These groups argue that torture and physical abuse are frequently employed as standard methods to extract confessions from detainees.
The case has drawn international scrutiny as well. Earlier this year, United Nations experts urged the Indian government to implement comprehensive reforms to align its policing practices with established international human rights standards. The sentencing on Monday serves as a rare judicial response to the systemic violence often reported within the nation's detention centers.
