MADURAI: Observing that incidents of custodial violence have not been curtailed in Tamil Nadu even after the sensitive Sathankulam case, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the CB-CID to file final report in a custodial death case, reported in 2014, without waiting for sanction to prosecute the accused police officers. The order was passed on a petition filed by E Maheswari in 2015, seeking compensation and appropriate action over the custodial death of her husband Esakki Muthu in 2014.
Justice B Pugalendhi, who passed the order, also directed the state government to provide scholarship for the education of the deceased’s children. He further ordered the director general of police to reopen the departmental proceedings and take action against the police officials involved in the incident and also the officers, including the concerned deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner, who had delayed the said proceedings for more than four years.
He also quoted data from the Lok Sabha and said 478 custodial deaths were reported while suspects were in judicial or police custody between 2016-2017 and 2021-22 (till February 28, 2022).
“Even after the sensitive Sathankulam’s case, custodial death and torture are not curtailed in this state,” he lamented. The attitude of some police officials that investigation could be conducted only by the way of torture has to be mended, he added and passed the above order.