'You Should Be In Jail For Sometime' : Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Listing Of Bail Plea Of Cop Accused In Jayaraj-Bennix Custodial Deaths Case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant urgent listing for a petition filed by a Tamil Nadu police officer, who has been chargesheeted as an accused by the CBI in the Jayaraj-Bennix case, in which a father-son duo were brutally murdered in police custody last year.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai was considering the bail plea filed by P Raghu Ganesh, who was the Sub-Inspector of the Sathankulam police station, where Jayaraj and Bennix were subjected to custodial torture in June 2020.

Though the bench issued notice on the special leave petition, it refused to give an urgent listing for the petition during the summer vacation.

Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that Raghu Ganesh was not present in the station during the time of the crime. Telling the bench that one of the accused died due to COVID while in custody, the senior counsel sought for an urgent consideration of the bail plea during the vacation itself.

The bench observed that this was a case where a father and son were brutally "beaten black and blue" to death after taking them to custody for the mere reason that they violated COVID lockdown. The bench also observed that the records showed that there was an eyewitness for Raghu Ganesh's involvement in the crime.

"This is a very bad case. This is a case where you should be in jail for sometime", Justice Saran observed, when Senior Advocate Prakash pressed for an urgent listing of the case.

The bench has listed the case after the summer vacation of the Supreme Court(after June 28).

Raghu Ganesh has approached the Supreme Court challenging the order of Madras High Court which dismissed his bail application.

Jayaraj and Bennix were taken into custody on June 19 last year on the allegation that they had kept their mobile phone shop open beyond the permissible hours during the lockdown. They were tortured in police custody, leading to their deaths. 

The custodial deaths sparked of large scale public protests and social media outrage across the country. The Madras High Court took suo moto cognizance of the matter and ordered the Superintendent of Police, Thoothukudi, to inquire into the incident and submit a status report. An order was given to videograph the autopsy, which the court ordered to be done by a panel of three experts in the presence of a magistrate after the police completed its inquest proceedings.

The Tamil Nadu government handed over the investigation to the CBI. The CBI has filed chargesheet in the case.