It was on January 28 2018, a Sunday, that 26-year-old Sujith, a native of Irinjalakuda in Thrissur was bludgeoned with an iron rod. Two years after he was killed for confronting and questioning his cousin’s stalker, the prime accused in Sujith's murder case has been awarded 12 years imprisonment. Sujith, who is the son of Puthukkattil Venugopal and Aruna of Korumbissery, confronted the accused man, identified as Pathazhakattil Midhun, a native of Padiyur, who had been stalking and harassing his cousin. According to the Irinjalakuda police, Midhun, an auto driver, had been livid that Sujith dared question him and decided to assault him.
On the day of the assault, Sujith was hit on his head with an iron rod by Midhun, near the Municipal Bus Stand, near Thrissur’s Irinjalakuda in full public glare. Reports from 2018 state that, after an argument, Midhun hit Sujith with an iron bar, kicked him in the chest, and banged his head on the ground after Sujith collapsed on the road. The 26-year-old was admitted to the Thrissur District Co-operative Hospital but passed away by 12:45 am on Wednesday. Two years later, Sujith’s family has now received justice with the court convicting Midhun and pronouncing the quantum of sentence.
According to the judgement, a failure to pay the fine of Rs 1.2 lakh would mean that Midhun will have to serve two more years in prison as compensation. Rs 1 lakh out of the fine amount will be given to Sujith’s family. The court has also asked the district legal services authority to take the necessary steps to ensure further compensation to the bereaved family.
Apart from Midhun, the Irinjalakuda police had also named a second accused in the case, who had tried to help free Midhun from the case. However, the court has let go of the second accused in the case.
“We are still waiting for the copy of the judgement. Since it is election time now (local body elections), there has been a delay in receiving the judgement copy. Only after seeing that will we be able to confirm the counts under which Midhun has been convicted. But we believe that the court has awarded 10 years under 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and two years sentence under section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means),” an officer from the Irinjalakuda police station told TNM.
The police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 307 (attempt to murder).
The case was registered by former Sub Inspector of Irinjalakuda KS Sushanth and was investigated by Inspector MK Suresh Kumar. The prosecution cross examined 35 prosecution witnesses and 49 documents were also submitted to the court in the case. Additional Prosecutor PJ Joby had appeared for the prosecution.