The woman cop whose testimony helped convict 9 officers in Sathankulam case

Madurai: Nine police officers on Monday, April 6, were sentenced to death for the sensational 2020 Sathankulam custodial killings of trader P Jayaraj and his son J Bennicks.

The landmark judgement was made possible in part due to female constable R Revathi’s testimony, who witnessed the assault personally.

On June 19, 2020, Revathi was on night shift at the Sathankulam Police Station in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. She was 37 at the time and 14 years into her police service.

“I had never witnessed such cruelty,” she told The New Indian Express.

Recounting the incident after the court handed the verdict, she said the accused police officers excessively used force against the victims after Bennicks tried defending his father.

“When Bennicks stopped Constable Muthuraj from attacking his father, the shirt button of the Constable fell off in the action,” Revathi said. She attempted to intervene and stop the officers, but they refused and only continued.

The scene was so disturbing that she had to leave the room, unable to witness the brutality and hear the screams of the victims.

Describing the incident in detail, Revathi said, “Bennicks could not even walk a step, but one of the Sub-Inspectors asked him to clean the bloodstained floor using his own vest.”

Pressured by senior officers to lie

For Revathi, it was obvious. “Everyone is equal before the law.”

“If I hadn’t revealed the truth, the court would have definitely found it out and I would have also been found guilty,” Revathi said. “I feel so much for the families of the convicted policemen, but they shouldn’t have acted cruelly.”

Even after she decided to tell the truth and testify, Revathi claimed that senior police officials pressured her into lying during the trial. “However, only God and I know the troubles I had to face to reveal the truth.”

“When the trial was underway, many from the police station indirectly contacted me and asked me to tell the investigator that they were outside the station when the duo was being brutally beaten, but I did not lie. Someday, they will realise that I was right,” she said.

Meanwhile, her family were concerned that she was risking her career by testifying against the police. Now 21 years into her career, her testimony helped reveal the accused’s crimes.

Soundara Rajan, president of the Vanigar Sangangalin Peravai, Tamil Nadu’s major influential traders’ organisation, appealed to the state government to consider promoting Revathi and awarding her for her honesty.