K Shobana, sub-inspector attached to the control room, office of the SP in Virudhunagar, and formerly a sub-inspector attached to T Vadipatti police station in Madurai district, was slapped with a fine of Rs 50,000 by the TN State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) for assaulting and detaining an army man in a lock-up for hours, despite knowing that the man was from the military.
SHRC acting chairman Justice K Baskaran, who directed the SI to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation, also directed two other cops, who were also parties to the assault, to pay Rs 5,000 each to the man. The total amount of Rs 60,000 should be paid by the State government within two weeks to the army man and recovered from the three cops, the judge said and recommended to the government to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the SI.
According to the complainant R Devanarayanan, after his sister eloped and married a boy, his father lodged a complaint with the T Vadipatti police. Shobana had summoned Devanarayanan to the police station on June 18, 2005, and when he saw his sister in the police station he scolded her for eloping.
An enraged Shobana, got into an argument with Devanarayanan, assaulted him and kept him behind bars for hours together and registered a false case against him. On the same day he was produced before a magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. All this happened despite it being made known to them that he was an armyman. After five days custody, Devanarayanan came out on conditional bail and took treatment in the Govt. Rajaji Hospital in Madurai for injuries he sustained at the hands of the three cops for five days. He lodged the present complaint with the Commission in the same year.
Allowing the complaint, Justice Baskaran observed that it was natural for a brother to chide his sister for eloping, as the consequences on the family are serious. The SI ought to have pacified him, but Shobana had instead slapped him.
“This Commission is at a loss to understand under what provision of law did the SI detain the complainant inside the lock-up room even before a case was formally registered against him,” the judge wondered.
Shobana, however said she would challenge the order. Speaking to Express, she said she did not illegally detain the jawan and claimed that he tried to misbehave with her.