Malappuram
A court here on Friday (February 20, 2026) sentenced five men to life imprisonment for beating a 42-year-old man to death in 2016 in a suspected morality police incident at Mankada here.
Additional District and Sessions Judge I Somhar M sentenced the five men — Abdul Nazar, Sharafudheen, Suhail, Abdul Gafoora and Sakkeer Hussain — to life imprisonment and said such cases of mob lynching should be discouraged, Special Public Prosecutor PG Mathew told reporters outside the court.
The court imposed a fine of ₹85,000 on the accused and said that if the amount was recovered from them, it should be given to the legal heirs of the victim.
On February 17, the court convicted the five accused for offenses under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 449 (entering a house) and 302 (murder) of the IPC.
Besides, it convicted Suhail and Hussain under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC, the SPP said.
The prosecutor further said that the victim – Nasir Hussain – went to his girlfriend’s house with her consent, but the accused forced his way into the house and brutally beat him to death with wooden sticks and logs.
He stated that the accused did not even allow the victim to give water and prevented him from being taken to the hospital.
“The court was of the opinion that this was done with the intention of killing him,” the prosecutor said.
He said the court was also of the view that such an incident should be considered an act of “terrorism”.
Published – 20 February 2026 20:40 IST