CHENNAI: RS THANGAM, mother of cine producer Madan, who had gone missing for about a week and whose whereabouts are not known, has moved the Madras High Court to trace her son, produce him in the court and to set him at liberty.
When the habeas corpus writ petition came up before a division bench of Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan on Monday, the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) submitted that a ‘man missing’ case was registered on June 1 based on her complaint. There are a number of complaints against Madan pending before the Valasaravakkam police, alleging that he had collected money from various students and their parents on the promise of getting admission in a private university.
All these complaints have been transferred to CCB, Chennai. But, he said he had no information as to whether any case has been registered and prayed for time to get further instructions. The judges adjourned the matter to June 8. In the meantime, the search should continue, the bench added.
According to the petitioner, Madan left for Delhi on May 27 and called her on May 28 saying he would return on May 29. However, on May 29, she received a WhatsApp message about heartbreak and thoughts of ending his life. The message had also mentioned of some money transactions with the university, giving rise to apprehension of him being kidnapped. Even after a complaint was given at the Virugambakkam police station on May 30, no serious attempts were made to trace her son, the petitioner alleged.
PIL seeks law to ban honour killing
A PIL has been filed in the Madras HC to bring out a legislation banning honour killings in the State. The first bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan, before which the PIL came up for hearing on Monday, ordered notice to the authorities concerned returnable by June 27. According to petitioner, the enactment of various Acts and Rules could not effectively curb the ill-treatment meted out by caste Hindus to the SCs and STs. The prejudicial activities led to the murder of Dalits in the name of caste. The authorities concerned, such as the respondents, have ample powers to legislate Acts and Rules to abolish killing of innocent lovers and couples in the name of caste and religion, petitioner contended.