CHENNAI: Rejecting the plea for a judicial probe into the recent clash at the Puzhal Central Prisons, Madras High Court has called for steps to deal with grievances of the detenues and observed that ‘a detention order cannot be a substitute for a criminal case.’
Disposing of a petition filed by advocate P Pughalenthi of the Prisoners Rights Forum, seeking a judicial probe into the March 24, 2014 clashes at the Central Prison II in Puzhal, a bench comprising Chief Justice S K Agnihotri and M M Sundaresh, said the riot was an outcome of the grievances of the detenues against the police officials and this Court.
“We are of the view that what is required is the steps that are to be taken to deal with the grievance of the detenues rather than going into the occurrence,” the judges said. Since the petitioner was not an eyewitness to the incident, the Bench said allegations made based on hearsay could not be gone into.
The bench, however, urged the State government and the Home Secretary to put up a mechanism to update and inform detaining authorities. The High Court also suggested that an officer could be appointed separately to collect papers from the office of the public prosecutor everyday and keep track of the cases to make sure counter affidavits are filed within the time granted.