Overview

• On May 24, 19-year-old Siju Venu was allegedly beaten, stripped and fastened to a roadside electric pole in Attappady after slipping near a milk collection vehicle.
• Agali police apprehended driver Vishnudas, 31, and assistant Reji Mathew, 21, in Coimbatore early on May 28 and registered charges under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
• The accused also face multiple Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita counts, including wrongful confinement and attempt to murder for tying Siju to the pole and leaving him exposed.
• Siju remains hospitalized at Kottathara Tribal Taluk Hospital, and his father has accused police of siding with the attackers and threatening those who came to his aid.
• The case has revived painful comparisons to Madhu’s 2018 lynching and intensified scrutiny over violence against tribal communities in Attappady.