The family of Jayaraj and Benicks addressing the media on the day the court delivered its verdict in the custodial torture case in Madurai. Nine policemen received death sentence in the case that sent shock waves across the country.
| Photo Credit: MOORTHY G
On April 6, 2026, the corridors of the Madurai District Court echoed with the harrowing cries of a family that felt it had finally been met with justice. The court’s verdict, finding nine police officers guilty of the custodial torture and murder of P. Jayaraj, 58, and his son J. Benicks, 31,in what has come to be called the Sattankulam Custodial torture case, laid bare the profound agony of a household shattered by those who had sworn to protect them.
The grief of the kith and kin served as a haunting reminder of the brutality inflicted by men in uniform, who turned their power into a weapon of fatal violence. The verdict delivered by G. Muthukumaran, the Madurai First Additional District and Sessions Judge, stands as a historic milestone in India’s legal landscape regarding police brutality.
Published – April 19, 2026 01:00 am IST
