At first glance, the judgment of the Madurai Special Court on March 23, 2026, which convicted nine police officers for the custodial torture and murder of two shopkeepers, and sentenced them to death, may look like justice. P Jayaraj, and his son, were arrested by the Tamil Nadu police in June 2020, sexually and physically abused while in custody, and died three days later. The resulting public outrage ensured that the case could not be quietly buried — as so many such cases are — and six years later, there was, at last, a judgment convicting the guilty and sentencing them to death.

However, a spectacular individual verdict cannot solve systemic and structural issues. Jayaraj and Bennix were killed not because a few policemen went rogue, but as the result of a legal system that bakes in State impunity from top to bottom, at every level.

Let us begin at the beginning. The Indian Constitution prescribes that, in ordinary circumstances, an arrested person must be produced before a judicial officer — a magistrate — within 24 hours, and his or her arrest justified. The magistrate is meant to be the first line of defence of the people’s civil rights against the State. In theory, the magistrate is meant to carefully consider whether any purpose will be served by keeping the accused person in........

© hindustantimes